OMG, Konoha High!
by Ariados
Summary: Kiba loves Ino who loves Sasuke who Sakura also loves, and Gaara loves Hinata who loves Naruto who loves Sakura who loves Sasuke who Ino loves, while Ino also loves Neji who loves Tenten. There's no logic in damn Konoha High. HighSchoolFic. NARUHINA
1. How Come Ninjas Get to Play with Knives?

OMG Konoha High, a new fanfiction, my very first AU fic anyway. So this is my take on a high school fic, with no OCs, Oh no. Like I said, it's AU, so erm… Deidara can be in it, okay? I lubz Deidarakips . He needs to be there. :3.

Disclaimer: Lol. If I was Masashi Kishimoto, I wouldn't be here, Tenten would have more screentime, and Deidara and Sasori wouldn't be dead :(.

This is NaruHina centric, with SasuSaku, NejiTen and some other minor ships.

--------------------

OMG Konoha High

Chapter 1: How come Ninjas get to play with knives?

Ninjas really were awesome. Weren't they? They were like, drastic-fantastic, nasty-mean… Anything. The way they were allowed to play with knives, even though they were like… ten years old.

Naruto Uzumaki turned the page on his Ninja Comic book, eager to find out what happened next. Would the kunai knives actually hit? Would one of the two involved in this spar get brutally killed? It was one of those pages where there's this huge cloud of smoke, and you have no idea what on earth was going on. Sometimes Naruto thought _he_ was a ninja. Like those guys in these comics. On a super cool ninja mission. Sometimes he even believed that he actually was a ninja, at least, had once been a ninja. Hey, anything was possible, considering Naruto couldn't remember a thing since he had begun the eleventh grade at the hellhole of a boarding school, otherwise known as Konoha High.

"Close your stupid book, Naruto, Iruka-Sensei's coming…" said Sakura, the girl sitting next Naruto. Naruto looked up, he could see Iruka-Sensei outside the classroom window. He slammed his comic book shut, ninja adventures would have to wait until another day.

"How are we all," said Iruka-Sensei, throwing the door open. He grinned broadly at all of the groaning faces. The rest of the class had to halt their gossip sessions about what happened on the weekend, and stop swinging on their chairs.

"Did we all enjoy the weekend?" the teacher continued, not really aware that nobody was listening or cared, "I know I did… I feel so refreshed for the new week,"

Naruto heard somebody murmur something to someone else. Something negative. Nobody wanted to be here, this was pointless. Iruka was Naruto's homeroom teacher, he had this thing with trying to motivate everyone, and never gave up, even on Monday Mornings. Naruto's homeroom, Class 11C, was probably the worst class in the whole school, none of them had much talent, and those who actually did, never showed it.

"Aburame Shino,"

Iruka began calling off the roll.

Shino gave a nod. Shino was one of those people who did have talent, but he never got himself involved in anything extra-curricular. Even in class, he never seemed to do anything, except stare at the blackboard and then stare at his work. Come to think of it, he never seemed to even _write_ anything. Somehow he managed to get high test scores anyway.

"Akimichi Chouji,"

"Yesh," came Choji's voice. That guy was stuffing his face again.

"What did I tell you about eating in class? Save the food whenever you want for the weekend. We're back at school now,"

"Yes, Iruka-Sensei,"

"Good,"

That was basically Chouji in a nutshell. You can look at his timetable and you'll notice that he would've colored "lunch" in with bright highlighter. He was always sneaking back in the middle of classes to get food as well.

"Haruno Sakura,"

"Present," said Sakura sweetly. Sakura was probably the smartest girl in the whole class, but there were only three of them, so that wasn't really saying much. Sakura's scores were always very high, In the B to A range anyway. Naruto enjoyed sitting next to her, but Sakura only sat next to him because she wanted to sit at the front. Sakura was very pretty, she was a cheerleader, not high up amongst their ranks, but she still did know how to strut her stuff, and she had a brain. That was a first, you don't get many cheerleaders who know what one plus one equals.

"Hyuuga Hinata,"

"Here, I-Iruka… Sensei…" came the familiar whisper. Hinata wasn't smart, she was much like Naruto, in the whole C Grade range. Scoring a B is like 100 for Hinata. But there was something about her that was nice. Hinata was probably the only girl in the whole school who didn't want to be a cheerleader. Naruto respected that about her.

"Inuzuka Kiba,"

"IS IN TEH HOUSE!" came the very loud and gruff voice which always held up classes.

"Is in whawha…?" said Iruka, looking around at Kiba, "Just here, or present would be fine, Inuzuka,"

"Gee, I just said "IN TEH HOUSE,"… You really need to touch up on modern language, Iruka-Sensei…"

"Inuzuka, please remember, this isn't the weekend anymore. Mind your manners,"

"I have better things on my mind… like a very pretty girl at the back of this classroom…"

"Inuzuka, stay back after dismissal,"

Kiba was probably the biggest idiot in the class. His grades were similar to Naruto and Hinata, but he was always getting detention. For rather stupid reasons. He talked through class, made jokes about a lot of things, and wrote "KIBA WUZ HERE" on desks. Still, he was popular. He made people laugh, and so he wasn't a total loser.

"Nara Shikamaru,"

No response.

"Nara Shikamaru,"

No response again.

"Shikamaru, wake up," said Iruka, this time much louder. Everybody looked around. Once again, Shikamaru had fallen asleep on his desk.

"Huh… has class started already?" Shikamaru whined, he sat up, "I didn't get enough sleep…"

"Perhaps you should bring your bedtime up to an earlier time, Nara,"

"Uh-huh,"

Another one of those people with talent, Shikamaru often did surprise the class, by scoring A on his tests. Only problem was, he usually got rather low grades. He only put the effort into the tests when they counted towards anything. Otherwise he would just rush through the test and spend the rest of the time sleeping.

"Uchiha Sasuke,"

"Hn,"

Sasuke Uchiha. Naruto's roommate, and the reason Sakura enjoyed sitting down the front. The only reason Sasuke always sat in the place where _he_ always sits is because there's this giant pole there which he could hide behind. Sasuke was the last of the smart people. Only he never shared his knowledge with anyone. He just finished his work, and then he'd just take out a book, or draw. Sasuke had this obsession with drawing knives, or reading books about knives. Iruka-Sensei had once told him off for this whole knife thing, and the whole class had shouted at Iruka about how Ninjas used knives, and Iruka had told them to leave ninjas to the comic books and to remember that they were in the real world. Either way, Sasuke was an annoyance. He was so smart, gifted and talented, and he never did anything with it. He was so naturally good looking too, EVERYBODY liked him. Naruto liked Sakura, but Sakura… couldn't think of anything other than stupid Sasuke. To think Naruto had to share a room with him.

"Uzamaki Naruto,"

"IZ READY FOR ACTION," Naruto shouted, deciding to capture the attention of the whole class. Well, that part worked. Everybody looked around at him in disgust. Kiba actually mouthed the word "loser". Unlike Kiba, Naruto actually was a loser. Iruka gave him a deep look.

"Naruto, you're behaving like Kiba, please behave in my classroom. We are back at school,"

"Yes, Iruka-Sensei..." said Naruto, sitting down sadly.

"Backing down without a fight, heh," Kiba whispered from behind. Naruto rolled his eyes. Iruka went back to the roll.

"And… Yamanaka Ino,"

"Present, Iruka-Sensei," said Ino, in a tone similar to Sakura's. Only her tone wasn't just sweet. It was sickeningly sweet. Ino was the leader of all the cheerleaders. She shared a room with Sakura, and many younger guys liked her. Kiba had a crush on her too, only she didn't like him, for obvious reasons. She sat at the back of the classroom, next to Shikamaru. She probably copied his answers and that was probably the only reason she ever passed with scores like B . She was a bit of an idiot as well.

"And that does our roll. Tsk, it takes so long just to mark off nine of you," said Iruka, "Oh well, I understand that it's Monday. Everybody better be in top condition tomorrow, alright? Are you guys going to behave tomorrow?"

Gee, he sounded like he taught the first grade.

"Yes, Iruka-Sensei," repeated the whole class in a very synchronized and un-enthusiastic drone.

"Excellent, dismissed," said Iruka, just as cheerily, "Inuzuka, stay back,"

There was a shuffle of bags, books and bodies, as everybody got up and moved. Naruto stuffed his comic book with his other books, and looked up. Sakura had already gone outside, she had probably gone out with Sasuke. That stupid idiot. Now Naruto had nobody else to go with.

Well, Hinata was still outside, but she was probably just waiting for Kiba.

-------------

Rofl. Yes. That was uber-random. D:. I just got so bored that I wrote this. I don't know where it's going… lawl. :D R/R. – Ari-Chan.


	2. Kiba is an Idiot

Thanks for your reviews, Rose Tiger, Alfredragon120 and werewolflvr147 Wow. I scored myself 3 reviews overnight. That's seriously like a record for me. I didn't know High School fics were so popular D:. I've read a couple, but not many. Anyway, let the randomness continue.

Disclaimer: Oh yes, I'm Masashi Kishimoto, writing about Ninjas in High School. Don't think so.

-------------

Looked like there was nobody for Naruto to walk to class with after all. He wasn't surprised, Sakura never walked to class with him. It was just hard being a loner when you were in the eleventh grade. It really sucked.

"Hey Naruto-Kun…" came a little squeak as Naruto moved out of the door. He turned and saw Hinata there. She was so small. Probably the shortest in the whole class, but she had really big eyes. She was quite cute.

"Heya, Hinata," said Naruto flamboyantly. it was so damned nice to be recognized, even if it was by the biggest "failure" of a girl in the whole school.

"Wh-what class… have you got… n-now, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, holding up the door.

Good question. Naruto himself had no clue either. He didn't even know where he was going himself.

"Hold my books for me for a sec please, Hinata,"

"Sure… Naruto-Kun,"

Naruto pulled out his timetable, and looked for Monday Period 1. The school timetable was fairly basic, Four classes a day, Monday through to Friday. Actually, it was rather boring. The classes went on for such a long time, an hour and a half. One class before recess, two before lunch, and one after lunch. It was pretty easy to memorize though. Only thing was, Naruto still hadn't got it. Not even the first class on the list.

"Erm…" said Naruto, locating the first class, "I have… Art,"

He made sure to put some revulsion into the tone of the last word. Hinata's reaction was the exact opposite.

"M-Me too!" she beamed, "S-So does Kiba…"

Hinata probably knew Kiba's whole timetable off by heart, because Kiba was too stupid to remember his own.

Sometimes Naruto wondered why Hinata hung out with that guy, but he knew the real reason, Kiba was like some kind of security for Hinata. Quiet and shy but cute girls were always vulnerable to bigger stronger people either teasing them or kidnapping them. Hinata needed some kind of protection from that, and Kiba was just the man to do that. He was strong and he knew how to cause trouble, and so people didn't mess with Hinata.

"…Do... you want to walk together…?" Hinata asked quietly. Naruto didn't get a chance to answer before Kiba came bursting out of the room.

"HINATAKIPZ… thanks for waiting," he said, skidding on the floor with his feet. Kiba was one of those people who didn't do up their tie properly or anything. He also enjoyed skidding on wood. It was a habit of his, leaving the marks off his leather shoes all over the floor, "So what class do we have now?"

"Ah…art," Hinata squeaked.

"Oh yeah," said Kiba stupidly, "I knew that,"

Naruto rolled his eyes as Hinata and Kiba began walking towards the Art Department.

"Come on Naruto-kun…" piped up Hinata happily.

It was nice to get some invites. Even though it was just Hinata and Kiba, it was great to be part of a group.

"So Naruto has got art too?" asked Kiba.

"Duh, I'm in your class,"

"So how are your clay sculptures going? Naruto-kun, Kiba-kun…?" Hinata asked, trying to change the subject to something nicer.

"Mine's a fox," said Naruto.

"O-oh… that's nice… mine's a little bird,"

"Clay is useless except for throwing it at people," said Kiba, "But mine's meant to be a dog, I think I failed though,"

"No duh," Naruto replied. Kiba never seemed to care about any class either. It was mystery why he even came to school.

"'Least I'm not the only one. What did you say yours was again Naruto? A fox? Pfft, it looked like some retarded turtle to me,"

"I t-think it looks like a n-nice fox… Kiba-kun," said Hinata. Kiba rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. So are you joining the cheerleading team Hinata? I really think you should, you can like, hook me up with Ino,"

Hinata gave a small shrug and sighed.

There was a pause, and an awkward silence and as the there of them turned a corner.

"Hey, Lee!," Kiba randomly called. Naruto looked around. They were in the twelfth graders' corridor. Where all of the twelfth graders had their lockers. Rock Lee was at his locker, pulling out stuff. He was this twelfth grader who didn't seem to have any friends in his own year level, so he was often seeing hanging out with the Eleventh Graders.

"Ah, Kiba-kun," said Lee, looking out and around the corridor, finally finding them. Lee was one of those dorks who did up his top button and checked his shoe laces every five seconds.

"Where's Neji?" Kiba called out. Hinata stopped in her tracks.

"No… K-Kiba… don't…" she muttered quietly.

"I do not know," said Lee shrugging, "I think he has already gone to class, I have to run too," He shut his locker.

"Alright," said Kiba, "Tell him I said hi,"

There was something awfully nasty about the way Kiba said that. Lee nodded and walked off.

"Why on earth would you want to say hi to Neji?" Naruto asked. Hinata sighed.

Neji Hyuuga was the school captain. He was a twelfth grader who strutted around the school acting like he owned the place. His friend, and loyal Vice Captain, Tenten, always followed him around. Neji was the object of Cheerleader Captain Ino's affection, only Neji didn't play sport so he didn't ever notice her. He was also Hinata's cousin, but a lot of people fail to notice this, considering Neji and Hinata were so unlike. He was another of those top button people, only he wore clothes that were a size too small for him so he still wouldn't that bad, as opposed to the baggy style.

"Well, well," said Kiba cunningly, "This is an opportunity we can't miss,"

"P-please… Kiba… he'll kill me…" squealed Hinata, "Don't do anything…"

"Relax," said Kiba, who had opened his pencil case, "He'll never know I did it, alright,"

Kiba pulled out his trusty thick black marker. Naruto had a feeling that this was going to lead to something saying "KIBA WUZ HERE".

"Kiba, you're being an idiot. Of course Neji's going to know it was you. Nobody else goes around vandalizing things,"

"Be quiet Uzumaki, where was Neji's locker again?" Kiba looked around at the lockers. He eventually found Neji's. He opened his marker. Hinata bit her lip.

"K-Kiba… y-you'll get detention,"

"Pfft, Iruka-Sensei's already given me detention for today,"

With that, he scrawled something on the locker in big letters. Then he moved away, so Naruto and Hinata could read what it said.

I LUVZ INO

"Oh, like it's really going to matter to Neji if you love Ino or not. He probably doesn't even know who she is," said Naruto angrily, "Now you're not only going to be in trouble with Neji, but also with Ino. She hates your guts. Get that in your head,"

"She knows she loves me, don't doubt it Uzumaki," said Kiba, smirking.

"Oh no…" Hinata suddenly squealed. Naruto and Kiba looked around. They could see a couple turning at the far end of the corridor. There was no mistaking that ridiculously swishy dark brown hair and pair of buns so round that they looked like meatballs. Neji and Tenten.

"Now you're busted," said Naruto, starting to walk. Kiba chucked his marker back into his pencil case.

"Just play innocent, alright," he said, walking forward. Naruto looked around and saw Hinata's chest rising and falling very quickly. There was no way she could play innocent well.

As they continued walking closer to Neji and Tenten, they could hear Neji talking in his stupid loud and flamboyant voice. Tenten never talked, she just listened to Neji.

"I don't believe that I forgot my text book, I mean, seriously… how could I forget it? Hopefully Anko-Sensei doesn't get there before we do, I mean, I don't want to fail…"

Kiba snorted.

"…I mean, I spent all of yesterday revising for this physics exam. I have to pass…"

He spotted Naruto, Hinata and Kiba.

"Hello Hinata," he said casually in passing. Hinata gave him a very nervous nod and Tenten waved.

"Told you we'd get away," Kiba whispered as soon as they had passed. Hinata still looked as though somebody was going to shoot her.

"You're still an idiot, Kiba," said Naruto, "He _is_ going to catch you,"

"Hey, I'm innocent until he proves me guilty," said Kiba, and they came to the corner.

"INUZUKA!" came a very loud shout from the other end of the corridor.

"Told you so," said Naruto. Hinata had gone as white and snow.

"Oh crap," said Kiba rounding on his heals. He dragged Hinata by the hand, and Naruto had no choice except to follow.

"Why exactly are you writing about your relationships on my locker?" Neji asked as they came closer. Tenten was standing next to him, playing with her shirt buttons. Kiba gave a large grin,

"How do you know that I wrote that?"

"Because I was in this corridor just five minutes ago, and I doubt anyone else has passed since then."

"Coulda been Rock Lee."

"No, it wasn't him. He doesn't like that Ino girl anyway. Only you'd have an IQ level so low to do something as ridiculous as this."

"Come on Hyuuga, do you really have time to tell me off… I thought you were failing physics."

There was a very large pause.

"Hinata, you and your friend go to class. Inuzuka, you're coming with me," said Neji, who had now totally lost it, "Don't wait around for him."

"Oh yes, because you don't have enough power to give me detention by yourself," said Kiba. Neji turned on heal and went to move down the corridor.

"Come on Tenten, Inuzuka, trust me, you have probably lost of your lunchtimes for the whole week. With any luck you'll be suspended."

"Like they're going to suspend me for that," said Kiba, sticking his tongue out as he followed Neji, "You two go to art class."

Naruto nodded and led Hinata off. Now she looked like somebody actually _had_ shot her.

"K-Kiba… is a good friend and all…" she said quietly as the two of them walked off towards Art, "B-but, I d-don't know w-why he goes upsetting N-Neji… now I'm p-probably going to get in trouble."

"Yeah, the things some people do for love. Actually, I don't know where the logic in scribbling on Neji's locker was anyway," said Naruto, it was so strange talking to Hinata one on one, "What was he saying about the cheerleaders?"

Hinata looked away from him and sighed.

"Oh, w-well, Tenten, quit the c-cheerleading t-team…"

"Most likely on Neji's orders,"

"Y-yeah… and Ino… she wants, the team… to be… all eleventh graders…"

"That's just so that she knows everyone and feels even more in control,"

"Y-yes… I know…but she asked me, a-and Kiba said I should join…"

"He also scribbled all over your cousin's locker,"

"O-oh… I don't know what to do, and I h-have to tell Ino by Friday… and I don't want her to hate me…"

Naruto couldn't think of anything else to say. They had arrived at the art classroom.

"Shall we go in?" he asked, opening the door.

Hinata gave a shy nod.

As soon as they entered the classroom, they were hit by another wave of shouting.

"There you two are, you are both five minutes later!" came the angry teacher's voice. Naruto and Hinata looked at Deidara-Sensei, the art teacher. He was a fairly young teacher, but ever since he had taken over the art department they hadn't done anything other than clay sculptures. According to Tsunade, the principal, it was a nice change from the old painting and drawing curriculum, but it was getting very boring. A lot of people teased Deidara sensei, because he looked like a girl and he got angry very easily, but he was a very experienced artist.

"We're sorry, Deidara-Sensei," said Naruto, "Neji Hyuuga had to talk to us,"

Hinata gave a shy little nod.

"Alright, alright, you two sit down and work on your clay sculptures. You're already behind Uzumaki,"

Funny how he didn't seem to have anything to say to Hinata.

Naruto walked across the classroom, and looked at the others sitting there. Sakura was in this class, as was Ino. The two of them were sitting with Shikamaru. Sasuke wasn't in this class, he had dropped Art. He hated anything that seemed to involve creativity or bright colors. Sakura's art was so beautiful. It was a slug, but it still looked better than all of the Phoenixes and Wolves and other naturally better looking animals. Sakura was so creative. But Naruto couldn't go sit with her. Sure, there was a seat on her table, but even if Naruto did sit there, nobody would talk to him. He was better off going and sitting with Hinata. He couldn't let Hinata sit alone either.

The two of them collected their sculptures and went off to the table. Naruto's "fox" looked even worse than last time. Like somebody had squished it. Hinata's little bird actually did look remotely like one. It was cute, and had really big eyes, just like her.

"Your bird looks nice, Hinata" said Naruto, sitting down and shaping his "fox". Hinata shook her head.

"I don't like it! Your fox is cute!" she squealed.

"Nah, Kiba was right, it looks like a retarded turtle,"

"D-don't take w-what Kiba says too s-seriously…Naruto-Kun…"

"Speak of the devil,"

The door was thrown open and Kiba made a grand entrance, skidding into the classroom as usual. All heads turned his way. Deidara sensei looked up at him angrily,

"Inuzuka, that's ten minutes late. This is the third time in two weeks. Can't you learn to be punctual?" he snapped, checking his watch. The rest of the class exchanged smirks and looked at Kiba.

"Sorry, I had to deal with Neji Hyuuga. Won't happen again, _miss_,"

Everybody except Hinata burst out laughing. Deidara Sensei's eyes filled with such a fury, it looked like he was going to explode.

"What did you say Inuzuka?" he demanded. Instead of acting responsible and apologizing, Kiba flat out gave him the answer he was looking for.

"I said that it won't happen again, miss,"

"Detention Inuzuka. You can help me clean out the Paint Cupboard at lunchtime today,"

"Sorry, can't, miss. I've already got a detention today,"

"Tomorrow then,"

"Got them all week, lunch times, miss,"

It was getting old now. Everybody wished Kiba would stop using that m-word.

"Fine Inuzuka, you little brat. After school, every day this week," said Deidara sensei sharply. Kiba nodded and started to walk to his seat, blowing a kiss to Ino on the way.

"Ewww…" Ino mouthed, looking totally revolted. Kiba chuckled.

"You got that Inuzuka? Every single day this week," repeated Deidara sensei.

"Yes, miss,"

--------

That was…. even more random than the last one n-n. Lawl. I don't know where this is going to go, but it's so fun picking on Deidara. R/R. I'll try and update tomorrow if I can.


	3. The Square Root of Sixteen

Thanks guys for the reviews. Okay, this is getting creepy. In 2 hours, I landed 4 reviews oo. You guys are the best! Without you, I wouldn't be like… writing D:. Anyway, Gaara's coming soon, don't worry :P.

-----------

_Question 9: Natsura was holding a big dinner party, and cooked many different dishes for dinner. She made 17 burgers, 29 plates of pasta, 12 bowls of clear soup, 31 fish fillets and 10 bowls of Ramen. Each person invited to the party had a choice of one of the dishes. How much of each piece of cutlery would she require if:_

_-Burgers required a knife._

_-Pasta required only a fork_

_-Clear soup required only a spoon_

_-Fish fillets required a knife and fork_

_-Ramen required a Spoon and Fork_

Well, this sure was a very stupid problem. Naruto lay on his bed in his room, looking at the really retarded piece of math lying in front of him. This Natsura was an idiot, why on earth would she make only ten bowls of Ramen? And why did you need a knife to eat a burger? Also, every person invited to her stupid party only had a choice of ONE dish, from all of that choice, and the ramen was limited. Naruto jotted down some notes, but this problem still didn't make sense. Kakashi Sensei really made the maths too hard. It was damned ridiculous.

"SASUKE," Naruto yelled out to the boy sitting on the bed opposite. Sasuke, who was sketching in his sketchbook, looked around irritably.

"What's seventeen times one?" Naruto asked. Sasuke raised his eyebrows.

"Seventeen you dobe," he replied turning back to his notes.

"…And twenty-nine times one?" Naruto continued, adding the answer to the last question into his notes.

""It's twenty-nine damnit," the raven haired boy replied turning away from Naruto, as though to block out all signs of sound.

"Oh, I knew that," said Naruto, adding this answer as well, "What about twelve times one?"

"Oh for goodness sake, the answer to Question 9 is 48 knives, 70 forks and 22 spoons!" Sasuke shouted, turning around in rage, "Can you please shut up?"

Wondering how Sasuke had managed to remember the whole answer to this question, Naruto wrote it down. Some people were so naturally talented. They tended to enjoy rubbing it in other people's faces.

"Gee Sasuke, I only asked what the answer to one small sum was, not the whole problem. Why can't you exercise some self control?"

"Why can't you learn some basic mathematics? Now shut up and leave me alone,"

After that, Naruto decided to work on his maths problems himself. Sasuke was such a nutcase sometimes; didn't he care about how his roommate was so badly failing mathematics? He just sat there and continued drawing his picture until Naruto had gotten up to Question 16. Only then did he actually stand up.

"I'm going out," he said, putting on his windcheater.

"Who with?" asked Naruto, unable to resist the pressure of getting distracted from boring mathematics.

"Not on a date, dobe," said Sasuke, "I'm going to look for stuff to draw,"

"If you are so into drawing, why did you drop art?"

"Too colorful,"

Sasuke picked up his sketchbook and moved towards the door.

"Bloody emo," muttered Naruto.

Sasuke had this fixation with drawing, he always just sketched after he finished his homework. He'd often go out too, looking for stuff to draw. God knows if that was actually what he did do once he left the building, but Naruto had a hunch that it was something else.

So Naruto was alone for another half an hour, before he decided that there was no way he was going to figure what the Square Root of 16 was without Sasuke's help. He sighed and picked up the school newsletter which Iruka Sensei had given him at the end of day. They received these notes every Monday, which talked about what was going to happen that week. Nothing interesting seemed to be happening this week. Well, there was something; A new exchange student was joining their class the next day. Their older sister was coming to be a Student Teaching course in Konoha, so they were coming along to study at Konoha High for six weeks or so. Naruto opened the newsletter to see if anything else interesting was going to happen.

_Knock, knock._

Sasuke must be back. Well, he had been gone for long enough, now finally Naruto could continue on with his maths. When he got up to open the door however, Naruto found that it wasn't Sasuke.

It was Sakura Haruno. Knocking on the door... his door! Naruto's bounced happily as he addressed her.

"Sakura Chan!" he said loudly, he wanted to throw himself and hug her, but she probably wouldn't take that too well, "Would you like to come in?"

Sakura tried looking past him.

"Is Sasuke here?" she asked, stand on tip-toe so that she'd have a better look inside.

Naruto's heart sank. He should have figured that she was after Sasuke.

"No," said Naruto, looking down, "He's out…"

"Oh," said Sakura, falling down onto her usual height, "Okay,"

She looked utterly disappointed.

"I could pass a message on," said Naruto helpfully. Sakura nodded.

"Yes, when Sasuke comes back, tell him that I was looking for him, alright?" she said, all excitement coming back to her voice. Naruto felt somewhat annoyed.

"Yes, Sakura-Chan,"

"Cool, I'm in room number eleven, with Ino,"

"No problems,"

"Thanks,"

She left, and Naruto shut the door. He fell back onto his bed, and opened the school newsletter.

If only he could find some way to impress Sakura.

**KONOHA HIGH BASEBALL TEAM – JOIN NOW!**

_Due to many twelfth graders quitting the Baseball team to focus on academic exams; many spots have opened up on the Konoha Toads team. If any male students in Grades Ten and Eleven would like to join, they can make their way to the school sports grounds after school on Thursday. Thanks you. – Asuma Sarutobi (Coach)_

Well that was quick.

Naruto re-read the article, Of course, he could join the Konoha High Baseball Team! That was a brilliant idea. Sasuke was already on the team, he was one of their better players. THAT was probably the reason Sakura liked Sasuke! If Naruto joined the team, and he got even better than Sasuke… then maybe… Sakura would like him! The cheerleaders cheered that stuff on. Maybe Naruto could ask Kiba to join him, and then Kiba could have Ino like him too… and then, Naruto wouldn't have to try-out alone either! It was perfect!

Feeling every bit like a champion, Naruto stood up on his bed, and practiced his perfect baseball swing. He was going to make this team. He was going to become a champion. This was going to work.

Following up his swing, Naruto dived off the bed, ran across to Sasuke's bed and dived, using it as first base. He landed on it and stood up. Grinning broadly.

Sakura was going to be his, and Sasuke wasn't going to stop him.

"I'm back,"

Naruto looked around, not wanting to believe it. Sasuke was standing there, his sketchbook under his arm and an awful expression on his face.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't dance all over my bed while I'm gone,"

Naruto snorted and moved back towards his own bed.

"I wasn't dancing, I was practicing my baseball for the tryouts for Thursday,"

Sasuke laughed.

"You aren't seriously going to join that team, are you? You dobe,"

"Erm yeah," said Naruto, collapsing on his bed, "Otherwise I wouldn't be practicing,"

"You're not going to make it. I suggest you work on your maths homework instead,"

Naruto didn't say anything to him. He just thought about it as Sasuke moved around the room putting away his coat and sitting back down. Would he really be able to make it? He didn't know how many open spaces there were or how many people would try out. He hadn't ever played baseball before either.

"Sakura called for you while you were gone," he said numbly. Sasuke looked up.

"Did she? Go tell her I'm back,"

"You go," said Naruto irritably.

"No, you,"

Maybe Sasuke didn't like Sakura as much as Sakura liked him. Naruto stood up. Alright, since Sasuke was insisting, Naruto would go down and then Sakura would notice that Naruto actually went to see her when Sasuke got back, and then she'd love him and they'd live happily ever after!

Or something like that.

"Alright, fine. Bye," said Naruto, smirking. He left the building, shutting the door behind him. He knew where Sakura's room was, it was pretty close to his own.

Sakura shared a room with Ino, Shikamaru shared one with Chouji, Kiba was with Shino and Hinata had one alone. The new exchange student was meant to move in with her however.

God, Ino was loud. You could hear her voice from outside their room. Naruto moved to knock on the door, but stopped upon hearing Ino's stupid annoying voice. He didn't want to interrupt any girl conversation.

"…Like… I hope that new exchange student is a girl, we're so outnumbered…" she was saying.

"Mhmm…" Naruto heard Sakura mumble. He put his ear to the wall for no real reason. Sakura's voice was so hard to make out, but it was nice to listen to.

"And even better, if she's a girl… we can so ask her to join the Cheerleading team! I mean, I'm sick of pestering Hinata. I don't really want her on the team anyway… she's too shy, and she'll look fat in the costume…"

For some reason, Naruto wanted to hit Ino through the wall. That was harsh. Kiba shouldn't be going after someone like that. Sure, Hinata _was_ a little chubby, but it was mostly baby fat, and she looked adorable with it.

"I guess," Sakura mumbled with a sigh.

"…I mean, you probably couldn't tell that she was Neji's cousin. She's so chubby and everything. The only thing she has in common with him is their eyes. Only for some reason, Neji's eyes look so beautiful and Hinata's are so not,"

Naruto didn't want to hear her say another word. He rang the doorbell hard, smashing that little button. Sakura answered it almost instantly, looking immensely relieved.

"Is he back?" she asked in a whisper, as though she didn't want Ino to hear. Naruto gave her a confused little nod.

"Is who back?" Ino called from her bed. She was already in her pajamas with her hair out and all over the place.

"Never mind Ino," said Sakura quickly, rushing into the house and grabbing her coat, "I'm going out, I think I'll be back soon… just have dinner ready, okay?"

"What the-…" Ino started as Sakura walked outside.

"Bye," said Sakura, shutting the door.

She turned to face Naruto, "Gee… she can be a bit nasty sometimes,"

The two of them started walking back to Naruto and Sasuke's room. It was a bit awkward, considering Sakura wanted to see Sasuke, and not Naruto.

"Yeah…" Naruto said, trying to create conversation, "I overheard her talking about Hinata…"

Sakura turned to face him, her eyes widening.

"I don't blame you," she said, "Ino talks so loud and she bad-mouths people too much. I personally reckon Hinata would look adorable in that outfit,"

"Yeah," said Naruto, "Why does she want the team to be only eleventh graders anyway?"

"She wants to feel in control, I think," said Sakura, she sighed, "Personally I think she should just let the younger students have a go at it,"

"That's what I thought,"

The two of them walked in silence for a while. It was sort of romantic, and it felt nice to be walking side by side in the silence. Still, Naruto felt bad when he thought about how all of this was to see Sasuke.

"HEY, NARUTO," came a loud shout, disrupting the silence. Naruto and Sakura looked around, they saw Kiba running towards them, still in his school uniform.

"Heya Kiba," said Sakura, smiling.

"Yeah… hey," said Naruto, looking at him, "Why haven't you changed yet?"

"I just got out of detention with that old witch, Miss Deidara," Kiba spat. Sakura giggled.

"You really did get on his nerves in art though… it was kind of funny,"

"It was also kind of stupid," Naruto added. Kiba rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, I came here to ask if you wanted to come to dinner with Hinata and I," he said.

"Huh? What's with the sudden kindness Kiba?" Naruto asked, raising his eyebrows.

"It's not me, it's Hinata. She asked if I wanted to go out to dinner with her, and asked me to get you as well,"

"But I have homework to do," said Naruto, he sighed. So Hinata had invited him to dinner. Naruto usually had to make his own dinner. Sasuke rarely ate dinner, he just had big lunches.

"Yeah," said Kiba, "Same, I can't work out what the Square root of sixteen is…"

"Same," said Naruto, heaving another sigh.

"Then we'll go work it out together," said Kiba, "Come on, I'm sure Hinata wouldn't object to Sakura joining in as well…"

"I'm going to see Sasuke," said Sakura politely, "But thanks for the offer Kiba. Naruto, I know the way; you can go with Kiba, I'll be fine"

Naruto felt like he couldn't get out of it. He didn't really want to refuse going with Hinata either.

"Alright," he said, "Tell Sasuke I've gone to dinner,"

"Will do," said Sakura, waving and walking onwards, "By the way, it's four,"

"Huh?"

"The square root of sixteen, it's four,"

Sakura turned her head one last time, and Naruto looked at her pretty sparkling face. Unlike Ino, Sakura didn't wear make-up, she was just naturally pretty. As she turned back and kept walking Naruto felt somewhat more enticed by her than before. In a way he didn't want to go with Kiba.

"Sometimes I think she's prettier than Ino…" Kiba said, as the two of them walked towards Hinata's room.

"Duh," said Naruto, "She's _always_ prettier than Ino,"

------------------------

Hinata was already dressed up the time Kiba and Naruto got to her room. Hinata didn't usually try to dress classy, but it seemed like she was trying to impress someone this time. She was wearing a cute little summer dress even though it was already dark and rather cold. She looked really cute though, and at that moment, Naruto really couldn't believe what Ino had said about Hinata. How on earth could anyone call Hinata ugly?

They went to a small restaurant nearby. It was pretty close to the school, and it was just a small Seafood Restaurant. They didn't have much time on them, as they had to wake up and attend classes the next morning, so they couldn't really go very far.

"Bah, I hate seafood," said Kiba, as they sat down at their table, "I want meat,"

"Hey, at least we got to go out," said Naruto, "Thanks for taking us out Hinata,"

"It-it's a-alright…" Hinata giggled, "I-I just… thought… I sh-should t-take you out…"

Hinata came from one of those rich families. Just like Sasuke. All of smart people were from the "big families", like Sasuke and Neji. Hinata had been put under a lot of pressure, because she wasn't as great as Neji, and she had to keep up the family's reputation. She had a smart sister as well, her name was Hanabi and she was even more annoying than Neji. Hanabi was president of the seventh grade.

"So when's the exchange student arriving?" Naruto asked, ignoring Kiba's moaning about the food.

"Tomorrow early morning, I t-think," said Hinata, looking at her own menu.

"So is it a girl or a boy?"

"I…d-don't know…"

"Don't be stupid, it's a girl," said Kiba, temporarily giving up on trying to find meat on the menu, "They won't chuck a boy in a room with Hinata,"

"T-that's not true." said Hinata shaking her head, "N-Neji shares a r-room with Tenten,"

"Yeah, well Tenten looks like a boy so she doesn't count," said Kiba.

"Didn't you have a crush on her like a few years ago, Kiba?" Naruto asked.

"Shut up, that was before she started hanging with that idiot Neji," said Kiba, going rather pink.

Hinata looked around in total fear, as though Neji was actually in the room.

"May I take your order?" said a waiter who had appeared behind Hinata. Hinata virtually jumped in shock.

"Y-yes...!" she said, "I-I'll have the F-Fish cakes…in l-lemon sauce…"

"I'll have the Seafood Ramen," Naruto added.

The waiter jotted all of this down.

"And you…?" he asked Kiba, who hadn't finished looking at the menu.

"Do you have meat?" Kiba asked.

"We have fish,"

"That's not meat, that's seafood, I said meat,"

"Just order something on the menu idiot," said Naruto. Kiba sighed.

"Fine. I'll have the spicy lobster roast then,"

The waiter finished writing down Kiba's order.

"Alright, that'll be ten minutes,"

He walked off.

"Kiba, you do realize that you probably bought the most expensive thing on their menu. Hinata can't pay for this,"

"Well seeing as I can't have meat, Uzumaki, I need to get something edible,"

"S-stop fighting… it's okay… I c-can pay," said Hinata, "L-let's talk about something else…"

There was a pause. Then Naruto brought up something he had entirely forgotten about until now.

"I'm going to try out for the baseball team!" he remarked proudly, "Care to join me Kiba?"

"When's the tryout?" Kiba asked.

"Thursday, after school," said Naruto, "At the School Sports Field,"

"Can't, I have detention with Miss Deidara, remember?" said Kiba. Naruto sighed.

"I-I think… y-you should tryout anyway," said Hinata, "I-if I was a b-boy… I'd tryout,"

"Ooooooh," swooned Kiba, "Who would have guessed that wickle Hinatakipz was a baseball fan…"

"Don't say that!" said Hinata, scrunching up her face, "I-I like baseball a lot,"

"Really Hinata?" said Naruto, "You really are quite different from your cousin then…"

They had a fairly eventful dinner. Naruto had to admit that this was far better than sipping ramen with Sasuke. It really was quite fun, even with Kiba wasting half of his lobster by saying that it didn't taste like meat, and Hinata squealing the whole time. It was a very interesting dinner.

They left fairly early, as Hinata had to go back and set up for the exchange student. By the time they had gotten back to campus, it was only nine o'clock. Naruto bid goodbye to Kiba and Hinata, and made his way back to his own room. He wondered if Sasuke and Sakura had gone out to dinner. They couldn't have possibly had as much fun as Naruto had though. You couldn't go anywhere with Sasuke and have fun. It just wasn't possible.

He was proved wrong however, as he threw open the door to his room, ready to brag to Sasuke about his night even though he knew Sasuke wouldn't really care. He couldn't brag though, because Sakura was still there. The two of them - Sasuke and Sakura – were perched on Sasuke's bed.

Kissing.

----------------

Dun, dun, dun. Cliffeh. Well… I planned out and outlined some of the storyline yesterday, so I can happily tell you that this story has an ending now :D. R/R – Ari-Chan


	4. Word Breaks Out

Yay! 13 reviews. This is very fast… for me. I am really getting into this story. Seriously. I think I was having dreams about it last night.

Disclaimer: What is the point of me writing fanfiction if I was Masashi Kishimoto? D:

-----------------------

_Anger. That was probably the best way to describe it. Sasuke and Sakura weren't doing any icky tongue kissing or anything, but they kissing. They were damn kissing. _

_How could they? Memories from the last five hours flashed into Naruto's mind. The last things Sasuke and Sakura had said to him… it didn't make sense. The two of them did seem to have that crush on each other. Wait, not even that. Sasuke wasn't even interested in Sakura at all. He just liked her as a friend. He never showed any romantic interest in her. Sure, Sakura got along with Sasuke better than any other person did. But still…_

"_**Did she? Go tell her I'm back," **_

_One of the last lines that came out of Sasuke's stupid mouth rang in Naruto's head. Sasuke could not love Sakura. He was such a stupid idiot, he couldn't even be bothered to get her. Even Shikamaru would go and get the woman he supposedly loved. It just wasn't possible. And then there was Sakura._

_The smile she had given him in the moonlight. That natural beauty. The way she had stood so close to him as they had walked under the stars towards Naruto's room. She knew Naruto loved her… how could she just get on the bed and kiss Sasuke like that? It just wasn't fair. _

"Huh… Where've you been Naruto?"

A simple sentence broke the thought which seemed to last an eternity. Naruto zoomed back into focus. Sasuke and Sakura had separated their stupid faces from each other and they were both looking at him. Naruto felt burning hate bubble up inside him and he looked at those Onyx and Emerald eyes. The way they seemed to blend so nicely.

"_I'd appreciate it if you didn't kiss the girl I'm in love with while I'm gone,"_

That's what he wanted to say to Sasuke. But he couldn't. Sasuke was smarter than he was. He knew that. Sasuke would just come with some comeback and out-smarten him; making Naruto feel like the idiot.

"I've been out, having dinner…"

Instead of anything anger, This was all that came out. In a low and emotionless tone too. The reactions just annoyed Naruto even more.

Sasuke did this little nod and Sakura gave a little high pitched gasp that was so out of character that it sucked. They were embarrassed. That much was obvious.

"Oh, dinner," said Sakura, even though she knew perfectly well that Naruto knew that she knew that he had gone out for dinner. She paused for a while before she spoke again.

"Oh my god, Ino would probably be waiting for me, I've been here for such a long time,"

Her voice was still high-pitched and girly. It wasn't like Sakura to worry about Ino either. When Naruto had last seen Ino, Sakura had slammed a door in her face. What on earth was happening to the world?

Naruto watched as Sakura climbed off the bed, picked up her coat and went to the door.

"Bye Sasuke-Kun, Naruto," she said, opening the door, "I really do think I stayed too long, gee, I've kept Ino waiting too long,"

She walked out and shut the door. Sakura was acting so strange – it wasn't like her to be so embarrassed about this. Usually she would just run and rub it in Naruto's face, and then Ino's. Not feel sorry for them.

"Hey," said Sasuke, speaking for the first time since Naruto had entered. Naruto looked at him repulsively. Sasuke didn't say anything for ten whole seconds. Naruto didn't think twice about just ignoring him and walking off to his bed, where he fell without even getting changed.

"Don't tell anyone about Sakura and I, alright?"

Talk about delayed reactions. Sasuke had also chosen to speak in a very dull monotone. It was like he didn't care if Naruto went and blabbed anyway. Naruto just gave Sasuke a grunt. He was so furious. His whole world had just turned upside-down. Sasuke didn't respond.

Naruto violently pulled out his maths book. He didn't want to make his life any worse by screwing his mathematics grade. As soon as he had found his page however, he changed his mind. He did not want to write down what the Square Root of Sixteen was. Sakura had told him that.

Right now, it didn't even matter if he was going to fail mathematics.

-------------

Even as the sun rose in the morning, Naruto still had no idea what he was going to do with Sasuke and Sakura's relationship. He still hated them both for it, but he didn't know, if he was going to tell others about it. He knew that it'd definitely annoy Sasuke and most likely annoy Sakura, but telling others about it was like admitting that Sasuke and Sakura were going out. Naruto didn't even have any proof that they were going out. Just that they were kissing with no good reason. Those two, just couldn't be together. He just couldn't have it.

Rolling around in his bed, Naruto found that Sasuke wasn't there. Then he remembered something; School.

Forgetting for a few golden seconds about Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto hurried around putting on his uniform and quickly brushing his teeth. Sasuke sometimes _did_ wake him up and rudely remind him that there was school on, but now it seemed like Sasuke didn't want to talk to him anymore. Naruto was on his own. All because of a stupid love affair that wasn't really an affair to start with.

---------------

Coming into the school, Naruto felt somewhat strange when he thought about how the rest of the school didn't know anything about the Sasuke and Sakura kiss. It was like being separated by a sheet of glass. It was so strange. The school grounds were pretty much deserted except one solitary figure. Writing something on a wall.

Kiba.

"Hey!" said Naruto, walking up to him. He felt somewhat relieved to have someone who was alone like him. It was strange, before the previous day, he had never thought Kiba Inuzuka might one day end up as his friend. Or at least someone to talk to.

Kiba turned around.

"NARUTO,"

The way he said Naruto's name was really quite funny. It was like "Nar-Yuu-Toe". He said it really loud too.

"Don't we have class now?"

Naruto did his best not to sound depressed. He didn't want to be linked to Sasuke in any way. Whether he was being very convincing or not Kiba didn't seem to notice anything different. He just kept on writing "KIBA WUZ HERE" on the brick.

"Yeah, let me finish, then we'll go to homeroom,"

"You're going to get even more busted than you already are, Kiba,"

"Relax Uzumaki. I always thought you were one of those cheeky kids, not a goody-two shoes,"

So now even Kiba thought he was weak. Even Kiba probably thought he could do better instead of just walking around the school doing bothering him. Naruto heaved a sigh.

"Where's Hinata," he asked, trying to change the subject altogether. Kiba finished writing and chucked his marker into his pencil case.

"Her exchange student's here. She had to get to the school at like, eight in the morning to show him around,"

"So it's a guy?"

Naruto felt somewhat uneasy about Hinata having to share a room with a guy. It wasn't a policy at Konoha High to have rooms for the same gender or anything, but still, Hinata was a smallish girl who was very venerable. He was a little worried about her. In a way, he didn't know what he was worrying about. Hinata knew more about the school than this exchange student did, and her cousin was the School Captain. She didn't seem to be under much thread, but still…

"Uh-huh. It's a dude," said Kiba, as the two of them set off towards homeroom, "He's from Suna Academy,"

"What's his name?"

"Didn't quite catch it. I just went this morning to collect my homework from Hinata who oh-so-kindly did it for me-"

"Idiot,"

"-And I ran into this guy. He seems like one of those types who don't really talk much,"

"Just like Hinata then,"

"Yep. He's got red hair and-"

Kiba stopped abruptly as a pencil came flying at him. Naruto looked around. The only person who ever threw things at others in this school was Kiba. Who could it possibly be?

Of course; Sai.

Sai was this kid from Class 11A. 11 "Asses" as people in Naruto's class called them. He was also a bit of a trouble maker, but unlike Kiba he always made sure he didn't get caught. He came up with excuses, while Kiba just admitted it proudly. Until Grade 10, Sai had worn the Girl's Uniform to school, but he had been told off multiple times, so he eventually started wearing the boys version. He still acted like a girl however; with his sweet little comments and dressing up in short tops on Free Dress Day. He was a loner too, but he didn't seem to mind.

Only today he wasn't alone.

He was standing with a girl. Yes, a real girl. She was wearing a different uniform however. Hers was brown, and had SA written on it. Her hair was brown too.

"…See Matsuri, these are what we call dweebs," Sai was saying, "I don't know if you use that word in Suna, but it refers to those who go around acting like idiots and nerds at the same time,"

"Says who?" said Kiba, tossing Sai's pencil right back at him. Sai dodged it sharply, so did the girl called Matsuri, "You're the idiot Sai,"

"I know are but what am I?"

Even Kiba didn't bother retort. He seized Naruto by the sleeve and pulled him into an alternate corridor.

"What a retard. Why on earth would they leave an exchange student in his care?"

"Looks like Hinata's not the only one hosting an exchange student,"

"Bah, she was kind of cute though, pity she ended up in the ass class,"

"You say every girl you run into is cute Kiba,"

"It's a pity Ino says that about every boy too. Argh,"

"Ino can't have Sasuke anymore,"

Only when Kiba had mentioned Ino did Naruto remember about Sasuke and Sakura. He didn't know exactly why, but he felt that he had to tell somebody about it, and smash the shield which was keeping his secret from the rest of the world.

"Huh? Why not?" Kiba asked. He had his eyebrows raised.

"Well, Sasuke's going out with Sakura,"

There. He had said it. He didn't know what Kiba would make of that information… he'd probably tell Ino, who'd get furious at Sasuke AND Sakura. Naruto didn't know what to make of that. He _would_ be happy with other people being angry at Sasuke and Sakura, but he didn't want to be associated with Ino. Not after overhearing her talk about Hinata. Kiba's eyes lit up and he looked at Naruto.

"Are you bloody serious? How do you know?"

He looked like a hyper three year old. That excitement… Naruto couldn't just lie to Kiba now. Kiba would bash him up if he thought that he was lying.

"I erm… Sasuke told me,"

It didn't matter if he lied about that bit? Did it?

"YES! Ino's mine!" Kiba shouted. Random people stared at him.

"There's still Neji,"

"Come next year he'll be graduated and gone. Then Ino really has no other choice. Does she?"

"Neji will still have two cousins at the school. He'll probably still be involved. Ino will just use Hinata to keep in touch,"

Naruto's goal was to stop Kiba from going to tell Ino about Sasuke no longer being single. He really regretted telling him about this now.

"Look, Hinata's my best friend. I won't let Ino use her to keep in touch with that stupid Neji,"

"Whatever you say,"

They had arrived at the classroom. Iruka Sensei wasn't there yet, but the rest of the class was. All sitting in their usual positions, talking. The biggest difference _was _that everyone was talking. Including Sasuke, who was talking to Sakura. Nobody noticed Naruto enter after Kiba.

Not even Hinata noticed him. She was standing at the front of the classroom with a boy who was wearing the same uniform as Matsuri, the girl he had seen with Sai.

Kiba had described him pretty well; he had a hunched figure and in a way reminded Naruto of the solitary Sasuke. His hair was a brownish red, and his eyes were a pale green. He wasn't much taller than Hinata either.

Hinata was pointing out the code of conduct to the Suna Academy boy. It was on a poster on the wall. Naruto considered going up and introducing himself, but what was the point? He'd get introduced eventually anyway. He was just about to turn around and return to his seat when he heard a shrill shout.

"SAKURA HARUNO, YOU CHEAPSKATE FREAK, IS IT TRUE THAT YOU'RE GOING OUT WITH SASUKE?"

It was Ino's voice. This could only mean one thing. Kiba had told her. Naruto looked at Sasuke; he was glaring at him. A glare which simply said _"you're an idio_t,".

Now Naruto regretted what he had done. He knew what was going to happen now. The whole classroom would tune in. Shikamaru would stop sleeping, Chouji would stop eating, Shino would stop staring and Hinata would stop explaining the code of conduct to the Suna boy. Everybody would then witness the scene which drama queen Ino was now going to cause.

Ino was standing up right next to Sakura's desk. Sakura seemed to have been taken by surprise. She looked up and shot Sasuke a look before facing Ino. She gave a nod.

"As of yesterday, yes,"

Naruto felt sort-of relieved. He had never actually confirmed whether Sasuke and Sakura were actually going out. He had just watched a kiss after all. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto could still see Sasuke glaring at him.

"ARGH, I HATE YOU SAKURA. YOU ARE SUCH A LOSER. A FREAK. HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME? I MADE YOU DEPUTY HEAD CHEERLEADER AND EVERYTHING. I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND. I AM GOING TO RUIN YOUR STATUS IN THIS SCHOOL, MARK MY WORDS…"

Ino was extremely loud. Hinata was actually cowering behind a chair and Suna boy was staring at her in a way that asked _"Do they do this all the time in Konoha High?"_.

Sakura seemed to be under a lot of pressure. At least that's what the look on her face said. She looked at Sasuke again, and then at Naruto. The look on her face when she looked at him was just saddening. She looked pretty upset. Maybe he _had_ been a bit cruel to her and Sasuke. He had to admit it; he had acted just like Ino was acting.

"Ino,"

This had been said in such a serious voice that Ino actually backed away a little. Sakura hadn't said it though; Sasuke had.

"Yes, Sasuke,"

Naruto noted the unusual absence of "–Kun" at the end of Sasuke's name.

"I love Sakura more than I'll ever love a brat like you. Leave her alone,"

Ino took another two steps back. Then tears started rolling down her face and she gave a shrill scream. Everybody was staring at her. Shikamaru mouthed "Uh-oh," and Kiba raised a fist in triumph. Then Ino virtually exploded.

"YOU AND I ARE THROUGH SASUKE. YOU'RE SO MEAN. WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME…"

Nobody bothered to mention to her that she was never going out with Sasuke in the first place so the two couldn't possibly be through. Nobody wanted to get anywhere near her.

"ALL THIS TIME I'VE LOVED YOU SASUKE. I'VE BEEN WATCHING YOU PLAY BASEBALL, I'VE BEEN WATCHING YOU DO PROJECTS, I'VE SUPPORTED YOUR TEAM. AND THEN YOU GO FALL IN LOVE WITH THE GIRL I THOUGHT WAS MY BEST FRIEND. YOU KNOW WHAT, I KNOW A GUY WHO'S WAY BETTER THAN YOU…"

Kiba looked very amused with himself.

"…NEJI WOULD NEVER DO THIS TO ME,"

Kiba actually fell off his chair. Everybody was too busy staring at Ino to care.

"Fine, go hook up with him. I don't care," said Sasuke. Ino still seemed to be blowing up steam. She only stopped when Shikamaru pointed out a window and everybody turned to look. Iruka-Sensei was here.

Ino stomped back to her seat in such a fashion that it was shocking that Iruka sensei didn't pick it up. His eyes fell instantly on the Suna kid.

"Ah, you must be Gaara!" he said loudly. Everybody actually noticed Suna boy now.

"Hinata, bring Gaara up the front,"

Hinata, who was still shaking from the Ino incident, gave "Gaara" a gentle push to the front. Iruka-Sensei was an idiot sometimes. He still hadn't noticed all the strange behavior.

Gaara went up without question. He was so pale, but he seemed naturally like that. Or maybe it was just nerves. He was such a shortie too, even though it didn't really show next to Hinata. He was probably shorter than Naruto too.

"Well class," said Iruka, smiling at Gaara, "This is Gaara. He's from Suna Academy, and he's staying with us for six weeks while his older sister studies teaching in the maths department. Say hi Gaara,"

"Hello,"

Gaara's voice was barely audible. It was so soft and rather rocky. He sounded a lot older than he looked. The way he said hello sounded like he really didn't mean it.

The class gave their little murmurs of hellos. Hinata beamed proudly, and Naruto felt even more down that he had before. He didn't know why. It wasn't just the looks on Sasuke, Sakura and Ino's faces. It was more on the point of the way Gaara was looking at Hinata.

------------

Boo that was long. Okay, it's going to heat up now. Just one note however; Matsuri, Deidara and Sai are **not** my OCs. I hate OCs starring in my stories :P. They're characters from Shippuden. – Ari-Chan.


	5. New Kid in Town

19 Reviews?!?! OMG, I'm so happy ;------;. Thanks guys. You're like totally the best.

Next chapter :3.

-------

"Oh gawd, PE first?" Kiba groaned, as they left the classroom, "I hate PE. I can't even see Ino…especially at this perfect time to set myself up with her,"

Konoha High separated boys from girls in PE. While Naruto, Kiba and Hinata all did have it at the same time, Hinata had to go to a separate gym from Kiba and Naruto.

"Oh," said Hinata, she looked at Gaara, who was standing so close to her that it appeared as if he was scared of the school, "Th-this means… y-you'll h-have to go with Naruto and K-Kiba,"

Gaara didn't say anything. Come to think of it, Gaara hadn't said anything since his introduction by Iruka Sensei.

"We-we're all in the same d-direction though…" Hinata supplied helpfully, "W-We can walk together…"

Gaara's presence had really cut the discussion short. Even Kiba didn't seem like he wanted to say anything. Gaara was quiet, but he seemed like he would get angry if anybody else said anything.

"So…' said Kiba, trying to kill the silence. Gaara looked around at him. Kiba was taller than Gaara was; he was the tallest of the group. Gaara made a very quiet sound that sounded a bit like a groan, "I saw another Suna exchange student this morning, from Suna Academy,"

"O-Oh… I kn-knew there was another student…" said Hinata, "W-What's he like,"

"It's a girl," said Kiba, "And guess who she's been assigned to share a room with?"

"That idiot from Class 11A, Sai,"

"Oh," Hinata sighed, "B-but… w-why would they put a girl with Sai and a b-boy with me? N-no offence Gaara,"

"Well, I don't blame them. They probably thought Sai was a girl. I mean, who wouldn't?" said Naruto.

"Matsuri," said Gaara in his quiet voice. Kiba nodded actually did a little jump and nodded.

"Yep, that's the one. She is so damn hot!"

"Oh shut up Kiba,"

"So she is with Class 11A, right?" Gaara asked. Kiba nodded.

"Unfortunately," he snorted. Then a very clear voice came from behind them. A voice that didn't belong to Hinata or Gaara.

"Inuzuka, do you and your friends have any reason for still getting to class five minutes after the bell rang?"

They turned around, even though they already knew who was speaking. Deidara-Sensei. He was standing with a woman, she had a little tag on her which read "STUDENT TEACHER". Deidara Sensei was evidently showing her around. Kiba gave a cheeky smirk, Hinata bit her lip and Gaara went a very pale color for no apparent reason.

"We were just going to class, Madam,"

Deidara chose to ignore his cheek.

"Then why have you four already passed all of the classrooms in this whole school? Show me your timetable, what class have you got now Inuzuka?"

Kiba obediently pulled out his timetable and handed it to Deidara-Sensei, still grinning broadly. Deidara-Sensei raised an eyebrow in suspicion but still looked at it.

"PE, eh?" he asked, putting his finger on the little square on the timetable, as though pointing out to the student teacher how to read a timetable, "Do you _all_ have PE?"

Naruto, Hinata and Gaara nodded nervously. Deidara-Sensei looked at Kiba angrily.

"Not all of your friends are rude little boys like you, Inuzuka. Miss Hyuuga was required at the girls' Gym, which quite a few meters back,"

Hinata gasped. She had missed the girls' Gym, she was five minutes late for class, and she was in trouble with a teacher; in other words, it was the end of the world for her.

"I'm sorry mad- I mean, Mister," she said, bowing low. She gave a rushed wave, and dashed off in the opposite direction. Kiba chucked _very_ loudly when Hinata almost called Deidara madam, and Naruto had to hit him to make him stop.

"We're sorry miss," said Kiba – Naruto could see a vein twitch in Deidara-Sensei's brow – "But may I ask you a question?"

"What is it?" Deidara Sensei snapped.

"What are _you_ doing here if the Girls' Room was quite a few meters back?"

"Kiba Inuzuka you little brat-"

"Oh crap, I'm ten minutes late. Gotta run, catch ya in detention, Deidara-Sensei,"

Kiba seized Gaara by the arm and ran around the corner. Naruto followed. He could hear Deidara-Sensei muttering words like "moron" and "Inuzuka" to the student teacher.

"That's probably got you a month worth of detentions," Naruto pointed out,

"Pfft, Miss Deidara's idea of detention is fixing up the Paint Storage Cupboard. It's really fun mixing the paints actually,"

Naruto rolled his eyes and looked at Gaara. His face was really pale. It made him look even more like a panda than before.

"Something wrong Gaara?"

"That student teacher," he muttered, "She's my sister,"

"See, now look what you've done Kiba you stupid prick,"

"No…" said Gaara, "It wasn't that, it was just that my sister seems to have settled in really well while I haven't. I mean, she seems to get on even with that Miss Deidara… and miss Deidara doesn't seem like a very nice lady…"

Kiba had to clutch a wall because he was laughing so hard, "Hah…fell…for…it…" he gasped stupidly.

"That's because he's not a lady," Naruto pointed out, "Don't listen to Kiba,"

"Way to ruin my fun, Uzumaki," Kiba snarled, "If it weren't for me, you'd still be a loner,"

Naruto couldn't think up a comeback to this. He just kept quiet as they entered the Gym, only to face a very angry Coach Asuma.

"Where on earth have you two been?" he asked, addressing Kiba and Naruto. Then he saw Gaara.

"Aha, you must be Gaara! Yes, we've heard about you," he said happily, "Yes, yes… we're doing Baseball throws today. Uzumaki, get a ball and practice throwing with Gaara. Inuzuka, continue your lines from last time,"

Kiba was banned from participating in sports for the whole term. He always swung the basketball hoop and threw heavy balls at people (Usually Asuma Sensei), when they weren't watching.

Naruto usually did partner activities with Sasuke (This was a boys' only class, so naturally nobody else really wanted to go with Sasuke). Only as Naruto entered today with Gaara by his side, he noticed that Sasuke was throwing a baseball against a wall, and realizing that it didn't bounce. He looked at Naruto and gave him a piercing glare. Naruto looked away and turned to Gaara.

"Let's… play ball," she said with a cheeky grin.

It didn't take long to work out that Gaara was probably another one of those smart kids. His eye-hand co-ordination was brilliant, and in a way he was even better than Sasuke. Naruto on the other hand, often missed the ball, but Gaara's eyes were so sharp. Sasuke started looking at Gaara in shock, and even Kiba took a break from writing "I MUST NOT THROW BALLS" over and over again to gaze at him. He was pretty damn awesome.

--------------------------------

"Class Dismissed," said Asuma some half an hour later. Even though being late had made Naruto stay in class for less time than usual, he was far more sweaty. Practicing with Sasuke wasn't like this.

"Hey you," Asuma called out to Gaara as they began to leave the gym to go to recess. Naruto and Gaara turned,

"Yes, you Subaku no Gaara. You should sign up for the team. Your baseball skills are fantastic,"

"Congrats, Gaara!" said Kiba, appearing out of nowhere.

"You're banned from joining the team, Inuzuka," said Asuma, Kiba waved a hand.

"Sheesh, I know. I'm just congratulating Gaara,"

"Just reminding you Inuzuka. Anyway, sign up sheet's over there. You're welcome to join too, Uzumaki,"

Naruto sighed as they walked towards the sign up sheet to get a closer look. He had forgotten about the Baseball Team. He had planned to join only to impress Sakura, but that was out of the question now.

"Are you guys joining?" Gaara asked quietly.

"Well, as Asuma Sensei kindly reminded me, I'm banned," said Kiba.

"I dunno," said Naruto. Kiba looked at him.

"You said you were joining yesterday, didn't you?"

Naruto shrugged. Kiba caught on.

"It's because of Sakura, innit?"

Naruto nodded. Kiba patted him on the shoulder.

"Forget Sakura, heaps of girls like baseball. Like, look at Hinata. Gee, I wish I wasn't banned. Then maybe Ino would love me,"

"In your dreams,"

Naruto thought about Hinata. She had seemed very honest when she had said that she really did like sports. Neji was the exact opposite. He always went on about how academics came before sports and such. Maybe that was why Hinata had never been that open about it. But heck, if Hinata liked baseball, then a lot of girls probably did. Without a further thought, Naruto seized the pencil Kiba was holding and signed "NARUTO UZUMAKI" on the poster. He looked at Gaara.

"You trying out?" he asked. Gaara shrugged,

"I guess… if Hinata likes it,"

"If Hinata likes it…?" Kiba asked in an interested voice, "Does someone have a bit of a crush…?"

Naruto, who was busy writing Gaara's name on the sheet, heard that statement and wanted to stop writing. Gaara… had a crush on Hinata? That was crazy. No way. Hinata and Gaara couldn't possibly be in love. They just wouldn't work. They were like… both quiet. And wasn't it a rule that _opposites _attract? Naruto felt Kiba snatch his pencil back, and he stopped thinking about Hinata for a second while Kiba began writing his own name on the sheet.

"You are banned Kiba," he said. Kiba shrugged.

"What's wrong with trying?" he asked, "If I'm not allowed, I'm not allowed, alright?"

"You have detention when the tryout is on anyway,"

Kiba shrugged again.

"I'll make it up to Deidara-Sensei by buying her a new makeup kit or something,"

Kiba had signed his name in huge letters so it took up the rest of the sheet.

"Now you've prevented anybody else from signing up either, idiot,"

Kiba wasn't listened to them. He had spotted Ino outside. Well, not Ino, but Ino's ponytail. As the three of them left the building however, they found that Ino wasn't waiting for someone; she was actually _talking to _Hinata

"…I'm sorry Hyuuga, we don't need you anymore. You could have said so earlier. I mean, we would have taken you, but now we have Matsuri," Ino was saying, in her stupid annoying voice.

"O-oh, th-that's fine…" Hinata muttered.

"HEY INO!" Kiba shouted. Both Ino and Hinata turned. Ino wrinkled up her nose as she looked at him.

"Oh, ew, Inuzuka, don't you have some kind of detention to attend? Whatever, like get out of my way, I need to see Shikamaru,"

She pushed past them and entered the Boys Gym. Kiba sighed.

"Told you detention was a turn-off," Naruto muttered. Kiba told him to shut up.

"S-So… d-did you sign up for the b-baseball team…" Hinata asked. Naruto nodded,

"Both Gaara and I did,"

"O-oh. Th-that's great that G-Gaara's getting involved!"

She didn't say it like it was a good thing. She looked so upset.

"What were you saying to Ino just then?" Naruto asked her. She sighed.

"S-seeing as y-you're j-joining the baseball t-team and all, I-I though I would a-accept her offer and become a ch-cheerleader. B-but… Ino s-said th-they had gotten M-Matsuri, s-so there was n-no space,"

"Oh," said Naruto, unable to think of anything else to say.

"That's funny," said Gaara, "Matsuri hates cheerleading. They always asked her at Suna Academy, but she said it was boring and never joined,"

"Well, I'm sure Ino wouldn't lie," said Kiba, "Matsuri's leaving in six weeks anyway, don't argue with Ino. She's the captain, she knows best,"

Once again, Kiba was wrong. This time, he was very wrong. Naruto knew what was going on. Ino hadn't gotten Matsuri to join the team yet, but she hoped for it, and she'd do anything to get Matsuri instead of Hinata. She really was a prick, she was.

--------------

Yes, this chapter is pretty short, but I've been busy. School starts again soon so I have not much time :P. The next ones will be a bit more heated up. Poor Hinata, I hate Ino right now ;o;. R/R – Ari-Chan


	6. The Baseball Tryouts

Okay guys, sorry for the delay on the update. A number of reasons for this. Firstly, I had a bit of a disaster where I lost my plan, and then my keyboard kind of broke, and a lot of the keys stopped working and lastly I started school again. Yeah, bunch of reasons. : . Anyway, it's time for the next chapter & thanks so much for all of your reviews :3.

------------------

"Class dismissed," said Kakashi Sensei, not even looking up from his book. Naruto closed all of his maths books, shoving them on top of each other and getting ready to get out of class. Kakashi Sensei was one of the hardest teachers. He'd teach you everything you need to know, then he'll sit down and read his little book. Nobody was allowed to ask him questions then; you just have to do your work, and then Kakashi Sensei will dismiss you right on the dot of dismissal time; without even closing the book.

"Hey, that's a new book, Kakashi Sensei," said Kiba craning his neck so that he could read Kakashi Sensei's book as they left the room, "Wasn't the last one you were reading pink? This one's red… it can't be any more perverted than last time, could it?"

Hinata braced herself like usual, hiding behind her books.

"Inuzuka, I'm a teacher. What are you talking about, I don't read perverted books,"

"Erm, yes you do," Kiba leaned down and started reading the blurb _out loud_. Hinata lifted her books up even higher, so that they covered even more of her face. Kakashi Sensei closed the book.

"Detention Inuzuka,"

"Don't be so harsh, man,"

-------------

"You got yourself in Detention again, Kiba," said Gaara, "Don't your parents get called to the school? At Suna Academy, they're very strict…"

"Our Principle, Tsunade, is so useless; my mum hardly ever gets called in. Besides, My family weren't all that special. My sister got high grades and all, but, my mother doesn't really care about what I get,"

"It's quite the opposite for me," said Gaara, sighing, "My older sister and brother, Temari and Kankuro… they were both ace students in their time. I mean, Temari isn't that good at sports and Kankuro isn't any top maths student, but they were both well known, everybody knew their names,"

"S-same with me," said Hinata, quietly, "My whole family was top students. They were all like Neji is now. All well known and good at everything. My father wants me to get there too, but… I'm not worth it. Ino pointed that out to me,"

"Don't listen to her, Hinata," said Naruto, "She's a prick, and she doesn't know anything. Stupid girl,"

Kiba started walking a little faster. He didn't say anything until they rounded a corner though.

"You guys go to the try-outs. I have detention with Deidara Sensei. I might come a little later,"

The way he took off into an adjoining corridor gave Naruto the feeling that Kiba wasn't going to turn up at tryouts. He turned to Hinata, she was smiling. As oblivious as ever.

"I-It's good to see that Kiba is actually going to his detentions now, and not skipping…"

Naruto decided it was best to change the subject.

"So you're coming to the tryouts Hinata? Brilliant, I heard the cheerleading tryout was on today as well,"

"N-No…," said Hinata, shaking her head, "They're just training. There's no tryout, Ino personally picks the members… she told me,"

"But you're coming to watch our tryout, right?"

Hinata nodded.

"I want to watch you and Gaara play baseball,"

Then Naruto remembered Gaara's existence. For _some _reason, Gaara seemed to have been acting even happier _after _Kiba had left. He was probably one of those kids who _only had one best friend _and hated hanging in groups of more than three. Whatever it was, something about Gaara irked Naruto.

Oh well, Naruto could outshine him at the tryout after all.

--------------

Heaps of people had come to the tryout. Lots of young boys who wanted to get involved. Just like Naruto and Gaara. Everybody at the school put a lot of value on sport. If you played sport, you were kind of popular. Sometimes, Naruto thought about it; why hadn't he done this sooner? The reason he had chosen to join the team was to impress Sakura, and even though that was now out of the question, there seemed to be a lot of other opportunities that could arise out of it.

Like outshining Gaara.

Like one day replacing Sasuke as Captain.

Like becoming popular.

_Like impressing Hinata._

Wait, that last one wasn't really that important, was it? It was just like a bonus.

"Oi, students, if you signed up, then come here," Asuma Sensei boomed from across the Stadium.

"Alright… good luck, both of you," said Hinata, "I hope you both make the team!"

There was no sign of Kiba, or Ino and the cheerleaders yet. Hinata made her way up the stands to take a seat.

Asuma began calling a list of people who had signed up as to check if they had actually come or not. He was standing next to Sasuke. Sasuke looked stupid in baseball gear, but heck, if Sasuke looked stupid in baseball gear, then in the eyes of the girls, everybody else did too, and the eyes of the girls was pretty much all that mattered here.

"Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Here,"

"And… Kiba Inuzuka,"

No answer.

"K- Wait. Why on earth did he even sign up, I told him he's banned," said Coach Asuma.

"He has a detention anyway, Sensei," Gaara pointed out.

"Thought he might," said Asuma, he scrunched up the list, "Anyway, forget about him, we can begin,"

The sixteen or so of them that were there were split into two groups. One of them was Asuma's team, the other was Sasuke's team. Gaara was put on the one which Asuma led, Naruto ended up with Sasuke.

"Alright guys," said Sasuke, handing out colored bibs, "The whole team, other than myself is getting replaced, so just because you were there last year doesn't mean you're going to get in this year…"

Stupid, shameless, idiot.

"…So anyway, we've put you on two teams, these are just for tryout purposes, you'll be together for the actual team, if you actually get in that is. So we'll be taking the field first, and they'll be batting. I don't actually play, I sit aside and take notes on all of you. Then Asuma and I compare notes, and then we pick the best eight, those eight plus me make the team. Got that?"

Everybody gave little nods.

"Good, now I'll give you positions. When I say your positions, go there, okay?"

Another bunch of nods.

"Okay, you go first base… you take second, go to third, you're the stump,"

The first four people in the line moved on.

"Okay, the next four of you, go to shortstop, left outfield, center outfield…"

He came to Naruto, who was the only one left. He gave a little chuckle.

"So you did sign up, eh? Oh, there's only one position left. Right Outfield. That'll suit you perfectly; you only have to move if somebody actually hits the ball there. Which I think you'll find is very rare,"

Naruto sighed and moved to the right outfield. He was at the opposite end to where Hinata was. She couldn't even see him for there. He just put on his glove and waited. Now he wouldn't even get a chance to shine; he couldn't do anything as Right Outfield. Even if he wanted to shine, he couldn't just invade somebody else's fielding territory. He'd have to wait until they got the chance to bat.

The first three batters on Asuma's Team were fairly decent. They weren't spectacular, but they all hit the ball; far enough for them to proceed one base. Leaving the bases loaded for the fourth batter; Gaara.

Gaara didn't look like Gaara when he stepped up to the plate. He looked so determined about it. Sure, he was still pale, but that actually liked his natural color, not just because he was nervous. Despite the fact that the helmets seemed to look big on everyone else head (Even Sasuke's chicken butt one), the one Gaara was wearing seemed to fit perfectly; and Gaara had the smallest head.

"COME ON MATSURI, I'M SURE YOU CAN WATCH GAARA LATER, WE HAVE TO TRAIN,"

Ino had arrived. Well actually she had been there for a while, the whole cheerleading team had, but she had been so quiet all this time for some reason.

"…SASUKE-KUN, YOU DON'T MIND IF WE TRAIN ON THIS GROUND AS WELL? WE'LL STAY WELL OUT OF YOUR RANGE,"

Sasuke gave a snort. Then he looked at Sakura again. Ino gave him an even louder, more pig-like snort back and then led her team away to the corner of the ground.

"Ugh, she's annoying," said Sasuke, "Anyway, continue. Play ball,"

The pitcher threw the ball, and then Gaara hit it. Sasuke stopped looking at Sakura, Sakura stopped looking at Sasuke and Ino stopped looking at a wall. Gaara was damn good.

The ball just soared, in one hit. Unlike everyone else, Gaara didn't get a single strike. The ball just flew… into the right outfield.

Oh crap. Right Outfield. That was Naruto's zone. He reached out, aiming to catch the ball; and it slipped right through his fingers.

"Idiot, you catch the ball with the hand that has the glove on it," Sasuke snarled.

"But I'm right handed! But the right handed glove fits on my left hand for some reason!"

"You use your right hand to THROW THE BALL dobe. Oh for gods sake, go get the ball,"

Naruto wondered why on earth Sasuke had chosen to stand near him. Probably so that he'd have somebody to tease, or something. Naruto had to run all the way to the other end of the ground, where the cheerleaders were, to get the ball.

The cheerleaders looked different to usual. Their pyramid, had changed. Sakura wasn't on the second row now, she was on the bottom. Her old place had been taken up by the Suna Academy student, Matsuri, who actually did look quite good in the cheerleading uniform. Unlike the rest of the team, she actually had a body like Sakura and Ino. Ino was still on the top of course, that hadn't changed. The biggest difference however, was that the cheerleaders weren't laughing at Naruto; they were all staring across the pitch at Gaara. Naruto turned around.

Gaara had hit a home run.

As Naruto moved back towards the game, he could hear cheers and claps for Gaara. They were all celebrating. Naruto looked at Sasuke, he had his palm to his face.

Nothing else of any interest happened for the rest of the innings. Gaara's "superb" home run was the main event. Nobody really cared about anything else. When it was time to swap fielders and batters, the other team were strongly leading, no outs.

Naruto was put as the fifth batter. That was better than going first or last. Their team was crap. The first two batters went out, and then the third and fourth had ended up on first and second bases by the time it was Naruto's shot.

"Batter Up," Sasuke called. This time there seemed to be another chuckle behind it.

Naruto stepped up to the plate. He looked around and saw Hinata in the stands; Kiba had arrived too, only he wasn't looking at them, he was looking at the cheerleaders.

Naruto sighed and took a deep breath. Now was his chance.

"Play Ball,"

The ball flew at him. He swung for it, but didn't hear the "ping" of ball hitting bat.

"Strike One,"

Naruto bit his lip as the ball was returned to the pitcher. If he lost this one, it would be over for their team with three outs. Nobody would have even scored one run.

He had been too caught up in thought to see the second ball coming; but he swung for it anyway. Nevertheless, he missed.

"Strike Two,"

It was his last chance. He gripped the bat so hard, he could feel the sweat on the handle. He focused on the ball; blocking out everything else from his mind.

The ball came; and he hit it.

It was like Gaara's hit, it went pretty far. Naruto didn't need to look up to find that out. He dropped the bat, and feeling like a bird, he began to run;

"OUT,"

He didn't stop right away. He sort of skidded in his tracks. Naruto looked up; he couldn't believe it, but then he saw the ball in a hand. He looked down a little; there was no mistaking the person who had caught the ball. He had bright red hair. Gaara.

There were some gasps all around the field. Naruto couldn't think of anything to do. He had hit it, for a few brief seconds he had been a star, and then this stupid Gaara had to ruin it all.

"That's Out," Sasuke repeated, "Three outs; that means that our innings is done,"

"WHAT? BUT WE DIDN'T GET A SHOT!" one of the later batters whined. Sasuke shrugged.

"That's baseball for you. We were kind of wandering how you'd react to that anyway. We saw you fielding. We'll base it on that. Don't worry, we're doing averages. It's fair,"

Stupid Sasuke. Nothing was fair in this world. Why couldn't Gaara have just stayed in Suna? Why did he have to come here?

"Okay, Asuma Sensei and I are going to calculate results. We'll let you guys know of the team in a few minutes,"

Naruto took the chance to pull off his baseball helmet. He stood by the bag of helmets for a while, watching people pass, anticipating whether they'd make the team or not. He felt like going back in time and not telling Gaara about the tryout. He hated Gaara. That guy was just plain evil.

People started moving quickly. All to a common destination, but there didn't seem to be any sound; maybe Asuma had announced the teams but Naruto had just blocked out the noise. He turned around slowly; apparently not.

Everybody was gathered around where the cheerleading pyramid stood; or at least, where it _had _stood.

Anxious to see what had happened, Naruto moved forward. Maybe something had happened to Sakura; maybe he could help. As he pushed through the crowd, he found that the Cheerleading pyramid had collapsed, but Sakura looked absolutely fine; the person who had taken the most damage was Ino. She was lying on the floor, clutching at her left arm, and she was rolling around and crying like a little baby.

"…SAKURA, IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT. WHY ON EARHT DID YOU DROP? I FELL OFF BECAUSE YOU BROKE THE PYRAMID,"

Naruto looked from Ino to Sakura, who was standing back, just shaking her head. Sasuke had arrived on the scene too. He put his arm comfortingly around Sakura. Ino gave another loud wail.

"Ino, I'm here!"

Naruto looked behind him. Kiba was jumping the stands to get to the floor. Naruto looked around for Hinata. She was coming down too, but she was using the stairs. Everybody seemed to be coming to see the fuss.

Kiba pushed his way through the crowd, actually getting all the way to Ino. He held out his hand; the very first to do so. Nobody seemed to touch Ino before him; only then did Naruto realize that she wasn't as popular as she once had been.

"Here, I'll help you up,"

Kiba bent down and picked Ino up off the floor. She actually let him. Kiba looked rather surprised with himself.

"Inuzuka…" Ino whispered as Kiba stood her up. Naruto could pick out the top of Hinata's head amongst the crowd, but he couldn't actually see her enough to find a facial expression.

"What is going on here?" Asuma Sensei shouted as he too came, parting the crowd, "What happened here Inuzuka?"

"Ino fell off the cheerleading pyramid and hurt herself, Sir,"

Asuma eyed him for a moment, and Ino gave another wail.

"Kiba's telling the truth. I've hurt my wrist!"

"Inuzuka, take her to First Aid, rest of you, we've decided the team. Come back here,"

Kiba actually smiled as he hoisted Ino up a bit more. Ino didn't seem to be protesting at all. Geez, it was only her wrist. She could walk. Sakura and Sasuke watched them walk, and Matsuri was congratulating Gaara on his performance. But Naruto was looking for Hinata.

He couldn't find her though; and had no choice but to go back and listen to the team list.

"Alright. No hard feelings if you didn't' make it, there's always next year," Sasuke was saying, "Anyway. The first member of our new team. Subaku no Gaara,"

It was funny how Sasuke allowed applause after Gaara's name, but not after any of the others. As he continued calling names, he sounded very bored about it all.

"Number seven will be Rock Lee, number eight is myself and number nine…"

Strange how Sasuke didn't put himself as the ninth one. Naruto knew it wasn't him; that was until he heard the chuckle that came before the ninth name.

"Heh…Naruto Uzumaki,"

"Y-You did it Naruto!" came the familiar squeal.

Naruto was utterly numb as he turned around and saw Hinata. Gaara was there too. But he wasn't cheering. Nobody was cheering; except Hinata. But Naruto expected that, and he did have one supporter. He was surprised with having just Hinata there for him.

But he had done it. He had made the team. He didn't know why Sasuke had put him there, but he had. Naruto was on the team. That's all that counted.

Naruto's thrill was temporarily halted by Sasuke, who had got a megaphone from somewhere.

"Congratulations all. Now for the announcement Vice Captain of the team. The highest performance other than my own-"

Funny how Sasuke hadn't actually tried out.

"-The role of Vice Captain goes to Subaku no Gaara. Congratulations. Gaara, stay back, the rest of you can go. Training is on Sunday, first game is on Friday after that,"

Sasuke had no enthusiasm whatsoever. Naruto sighed, and with Hinata by his side, left the stadium. He was happy; he was on the team. The road to popularity had begun.

--------------

"T-that was awesome Naruto-Kun. I loved y-your hit. It's a pity it was caught, but at least it was G-Gaara. He's so good. I think they have better tuition of sports at Suna Academy… it's a Private School. M-Matsuri is a great cheerleader as w-well,"

"Speaking of cheerleaders, did you see what happened with the Pyramid?"

"Oh y-yes. Someone at the bottom b-broke down and the whole thing toppled. I d-didn't see who broke down though…"

"Sakura,"

They kept walking through the cold towards their rooms. In silence mostly, until they were interrupted by a loud shout of "SCORE!"

It was Kiba, and he was running towards them, with his hands in the air as though he had just won a marathon.

"You guys won't believe it!"

He had this big goofy grin on his face.

"B-believe what Kiba-kun?" said Hinata.

"Well, I'm going on a date with THE Ino Yamanaka on Saturday!"

"O-oh," said Hinata, "Congratulations, Kiba,"

Naruto didn't say anything. This was taking it too far. Kiba and Ino? It wasn't going to work. Maybe their relationship would work, but it would cut other relationships for sure.

"It was so awesome! Ino broke her wrist right? So she was told that she couldn't cheerlead for a while, anyway, she was all upset because she couldn't go to cheerleading practice on Saturday, and I asked her if she wanted to do something with me instead, and she said Yes! We're going to the movies, and then to lunch, and because she can't use her arm, I might be able to feed her and…"

"Good luck," Naruto muttered. Kiba made a face.

"She's not as bad as she seems, Naruto,"

At that moment Hinata changed directions, and walked down a side path.

"I-I my room is this way. I-I'm going,"

She moved so fast that they barely got to say goodbye.

"Isn't your room that way too, Naruto?" Kiba said, pointing after Hinata.

"It is," said Naruto, "But first, I need to talk to you,"

Kiba raised her eyebrows.

"About what?"

"How could you. How could you ask Ino out. You know how horrible she was to Hinata," he said this so repulsively that he actually started shaking.

"Erm…" said Kiba, scratching his head, "She just said that Hinata should have asked to join the cheerleaders sooner,"

"She has reason for that. Matsuri _never _wanted to join the team. I know it, because Gaara was saying stuff about her not liking cheerleading. She looked so grumpy today as well. Ino forced Matsuri to join, just so that she wouldn't have to ask Hinata,"

"She asked Hinata last week,"

"That was before Matsuri came along,"

"Woah, woah. Why would Ino choose Hinata over Matsuri? Chill out," Kiba still sounded utterly casual about all of this.

"You've said it yourself Kiba. Matsuri's hot. Hinata's not,"

Kiba narrowed his eyes.

"I never said Hinata was ugly! I'm just not interested in her in that way,"

"Whatever. What I'm trying to say is that Ino hates Hinata's guts," said Naruto.

"How do you know?" Kiba asked skeptically.

"Because I damn overheard her telling Sakura about it. She thinks Hinata's fat and will ruin her team. She thinks Hinata's an insult to Neji's family and that Hinata will totally ruin her popularity. She won't let you have both Hinata and her. Who are you going to choose? Her or your best friend?"

Kiba decided to ignore that last bit altogether.

"Look. I've had to resort to being bad to be popular. Ino's my chance to get popular without getting detention. It's my big chance. I'll work something out, I'll spend time with Hinata _and_ Ino!"

"Why is being popular so important to you?"

"Look Naruto, just because you'll never get there, doesn't mean it's completely pointless to the rest of us. Hinata will get over it. You got over Sakura,"

"I had a crush on Sakura; Hinata is your best friend,"

"Same Difference," said Kiba.

He turned around, and then started walking. Seconds later, he had disappeared into the darkness. Naruto just stood there shaking. HOW COULD HE? WHY? Kiba was evil, that was the worst thing he could do.

Naruto thought about what he was going to say to Hinata as he walked off. Getting on the team didn't even matter now. He just pondered about something to tell Hinata, but he didn't need to.

Hinata was just around the corner; bent down; curled up in a little ball; crying.

-------------

I HATE KIBA NOW D:. Bah, that took a while to write, but yeah. It's done. R/R guys. Don't worry, I'll try and update soon, put you (and me) out of your misery :(. –Ari-Chan.


	7. The End Of The 3 Month Cliffie

Where did the fanfic go? Ahhh, I don't know where it went. I really hate myself for just stopping the writing with no notice. I started school again, and I got _very_ busy; so I sort of took a break from fanfiction. About a month ago, I started reading again, but only recently have I decided; let's get back to typing! I'm sorry for leaving you guys, and wow, 36 reviews is a sort of record for me, with my ratio hitting six reviews per chapter. Thanks guys :3.

--

Naruto and Sasuke still weren't on speaking terms, Sasuke was still a stupid asshole and Naruto was still on the rise to become the most popular boy in the school! _The lady-killer_. Uh-huh.

On a more interesting note; baseball tee!

Number 7; Uzumaki.

How the hell the shirt had been made so quick with nothing magical like ninjas in this world was a complete mystery, but there it was, lying on the end of Naruto's bed. It was such a hot T-Shirt. Red, Blue and White; the Konoha High colors. Wow; Naruto really was a rising star. This would be the year. The year Sakura fell for him!

Oh wait. Sakura was with Sasuke. _Why_ is it so easy to forget that part? Stupid Sasuke; stupid asshole Sasuke.

And on the topic of assholes; Kiba.

SURE, he brought it upon himself to be the school bad-boy; but all the way up until yesterday, it had almost been a good thing – it had gotten him attention.

But now he's just the object of Ino's affection. Why is it that everyone who Ino falls for a complete moron? Sasuke, Neji, Kiba...

It must be Ino's moron radiation. Has to be.

The other thing moron radiation does is totally ruin friendships. Sasuke and Neji have no friends who aren't also morons, so they don't count, but Kiba had a friend. He had Hinata, somebody he should never have dumped for the evil clutches of Ino Yamanaka.

Naruto sighed, maybe Kiba HAD dumped Ino after reconsidering it. Well; only one way to find out. Go to class. Unfortunately, that meant the whole firkin group of Class 11C.

-

Wow, Kiba really had lost it. KEEBA WUZ HEAR wasn't scribbled on any of the walls. Yes; Naruto had made the effort to check. He didn't know why, but it would be amusing to see if Ino had actually let Kiba write that. The fact the words weren't written anywhere proved that Ino's radiation had already gotten to him.

As Naruto entered the classroom, he found that he was fairly early, there was only one person there; Sakura.

YAY. Naruto and Sakura, alone in the room, no Sasuke in sight, it was the perfect opportunity!

Only something was a miss. Sakura's expression. Utterly glum and sad; elbows up on the desk, staring the blackboard at front.

Sakura was one of the organized kids. She was often there early, and she'd usually bring a book or something to read. But she was always cheerful.

Oh great.

Did Sasuke have emo radiation?

If this was Sasuke's fault, then he really was a moron. Turning Sakura into an emo was so not cool.

Only the thrill of actually being with Sasuke and loving him enough to take on his style would compensate with the emo-ness. So it probably wasn't Sasuke.

"Heya Sakura…" said Naruto, shuffling into the room and putting his books down.

"Hn"

…

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Sakura said "Hn". Well, most depressed people said "Hn". But still; hearing "Hn" coming out of anybody other Sasuke's mouth _was_ the most depressing thing in the whole world.

"You sure are early Naruto," Sakura continued, still not looking up.

Well, at least she didn't call him dobe.

"I thought I was a little late and things but, turns out the others aren't here yet,"

"Sasuke's doing the maths competition. He had to get up at like six this morning I heard,"

"Yeah, he was gone by the time I got up,"

Naruto sat down and watched her. Her tone of voice was just saddening.

"Ino was gone by this morning too. Looks like she's still coaching the cheerleading team…"

Oh yeah. There was Cheerleading practice on Friday mornings. Kiba used to go and watch, but he'd always get sent back to class. Naruto hated it though, because Sakura was always late to homeroom because of that, and he couldn't talk to her.

Hang on.

"Why aren't you at training, Sakura?"

"Oh, I've been removed from the team,"

Uh-huh. So that was the explanation for the Sasuke-itis. Well, more directly, the explanation was probably one word; Ino.

"Is this thanks to that prick, Ino?"

Sakura nodded quickly.

"…Is she going out with Kiba?"

Whimper.

Naruto looked at Sakura; was she crying? This was one of those perfect _"Boy comforts girl, then they hook up moments,". _Only it was strange that Sakura had started whimpering after the Kiba line. Only it didn't make sense that somebody as smart and organized as Sakura would be attracted to somebody as idiotic and retarded as Kiba.

_Thud._

Oh, it wasn't Sakura. That explained it.

Hinata had dropped her books down on the desk on one side of Naruto, and Gaara had also appeared and had put his books on the other side. _Hinata_ was the whimperer.

Oh god. Everybody was turning into Sasuke.

"Uh, hi Hinata,"

Hinata just raised a hand sadly, and then opened up her maths book even though Naruto knew that she didn't have maths today.

"Uzumaki," Gaara hissed from the other side. Naruto turned to look at him.

"What?"

"What's wrong with Hinata? She hasn't been talking to me all day,"

"Kiba x Ino forever. That just about sums it up,"

Naruto really didn't feel like talking to Gaara right now. Even though Gaara was apparently the only person who was talking to _him. _

"Kiba x Ino forever? Only fanfictiontards talk like that,"

Oh crap. Shikamaru. Now all of the other idiots were arriving. Naruto opened up his maths book too.

Yay. Long Division.

Gaara sighed and kept looking at Hinata over Naruto's shoulder. Naruto wanted to hit him. Give Hinata some privacy, jeez.

-

It was another fifteen minutes until Iruka sensei actually arrived. Like usual, he took no notice to everybody's strange expressions. He just stood and marked the roll.

"…And Ino Yamanaka?"

Finally, the guy was up to the last name on the list. Naruto had a spare period first, so he'd go and hide somewhere far away from the rest of the guys, and just have a think.

"…So it looks like we're missing Inuzuka and Yamanaka. Hmm…"

It wasn't unlike Kiba to be late to class, but for Ino, it was. She usually got there fairly early to show off about her latest manicure, or whatever.

So in that case, this probably confirmed that the two of them really were going out.

Naruto sighed and looked at Hinata too. How could Kiba do that? Hook up with Ino. Ino was a horrible, horrible girl.

"…Oh, sorry we're late Iruka Sensei,"

…

Oh, speak of the devil.

Everybody in the classroom, so yes, Naruto, Sakura, Gaara, Shino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Iruka-Sensei and even Hinata looked around.

There was nothing different about Ino. If she was late, she'd always come in with a sickeningly sweet tone like that. Oh no, the biggest difference?

Kiba Inuzuka was wearing a tie.

_Oh hell. Konoha High was doomed._

"Yeah, sorry we're late. Sincerely,"

The sad thing was that Kiba actually did sound sincere. He was clutching onto Ino's hip, had combed his hair, and done up his shoe laces. Ino had a bandage on her wrist, but other than that, looked just like usual. Naruto looked at Hinata, she was looking down into her maths book again.

"Yes, yes. You two sit down, and try not to let it happen again,"

"Oh, I had cheerleading practice; I'm the only one in this class who does it, so naturally nobody else would be late…"

_Idiot. It's your fault that Sakura's not on it anymore._

"…yeah, and I went to watch the practice, and I would have come back, honestly, but I couldn't let a girl walk to class by herself,"

_You're a moron too, Kiba. You let Hinata walk by herself._

Ino and Kiba gave Iruka-Sensei apologetic smiles, and both walked to the back of the classroom, Kiba going past his usual seat without a second thought. Naruto heard Hinata sob.

"Shikamaru hun, could'ya let Kiba sit there?" Ino was saying. Shikamaru groaned, but stood up.

Shikamaru was just bad too. He never did anything of his own; he just listened to Ino, and whenever she asked him to do something, he did it. He was the class captain too, so naturally, all of the class decisions (Finalized by the class captain), were always influenced by Ino. Shikamaru was sort of Ino's surrogate brain. As she didn't have one of her own, she relied on his.

"So I guess I'll have to go sit at the front with the fanfictiontards, alright,"

"No, Shikamaru, sit next to us. Just… on the floor; I'll need you here, I think,'

Of course, Kiba didn't have a brain either. So Ino still needed Shikamaru there.

"Now that we're all here, I'd like to draw attention to the fact that we have a very special occasion is approaching," said Iruka-Sensei, still not noticing the fact that Kiba and Ino were holding hands under the table and causing everybody except Hinata to look at them.

"…Konoha high is going to be hosting the annual eleventh and twelfth graders prom,"

Oh. The only thing that can make this whole situation worse.

A Prom.

Everybody reacted to this differently.

Shino kept staring, and Chouji kept eating, but everybody else had different reactions. Shikamaru gave the usual "Oh, what a drag," groan, Sakura looked up, and for a second there, stopped looking so glum, Gaara mouthed the word "Prom", as though it was something which they didn't have at Suna Academy, and Hinata buried her head her into her book even further, and gave this massive sob which nobody noticed because they were too overwhelmed with the news.

Kiba clutched Ino's hand even harder and said in this loud voice which he made sure everybody would hear, "Go to the prom with me, love?"

And Ino replied with this very loud "YES!" which had Shikamaru groan.

"…the prom will be held four weeks from now, on a Saturday. This means you will have a whole day to get ready. The dress code is formal…"

Iruka-Sensei still hadn't noticed anything. Idiot.

"…And contrary to popular opinion, you do not need a partner, but only students from Konoha High may be asked as partners. No Outsiders. Any questions?"

"But you can have a partner, right? Because if you can't, then this is the totally stupidest prom in the whole world!" asked Ino, "And I've already got a partner, so like…"

"Yes, I said you may have a partner, Miss Yamanaka. Any other questions? Preferably ones which I haven't answered,"

No one raised their hand.

"Alright, that's all. Dismissed,"

People began shuffling out _very _quickly, as though they had to go find random people around the school and ask them to be prom dates. Soon enough, only Naruto, Gaara and Hinata were left.

Hinata still hadn't moved. Naruto and Gaara had their books and were ready to go, but they couldn't really leave with out Hinata. They weren't like Kiba.

"Hinata, are you coming?" Naruto asked. Hinata gave a little sigh.

"H-how could Kiba do this… it doesn't make sense…"

"Nothing that guy does makes sense,"

"B-but I've known him for-forever,"

"Listen Hinata, I wanted to tell you this after you overheard us yesterday, but you sort of ran away. Look, I know he's been your best friend, but sometimes friends just come and go,'

"…Yeah, me and girl Matsuri used to be best friends, and then we drifted apart, but now she wants to be back together again," Gaara interjected.

"Yeah, see. Kiba might come back, or he might not, but he's going through a moron phase right now; I reckon you shouldn't bother him for a while,"

"B-But, I've known about this prom for a while; from Neji, and I w-was going to ask Kiba. As l-like a friend… but…"

Naruto didn't know what came over him then. He bent down next to Hinata's seat, and put his arm around her, as Gaara watched. He smiled.

"Maybe Kiba will come around before the prom, or maybe you can find another partner. Maybe you can go with someone as _more _than a friend. Now wouldn't that be awesome," he said, giving a little wink.

Why did he suddenly feel a _little _popular now.

"Y-yeah…" said Hinata, she looked up and at him. Then her face went pink, and she looked horrified, "That… that's what N-Neji calls "wasting" high school! H-hooking up w-with people…"

"Isn't he going out with that Tenten?"

"Y-yeah… but, but… I don't know…"

"He's an idiot Hinata. I don't know about you, but I really think that half the world's popular is made up of idiots,"

And then Hinata laughed. She started gathering up her books as Naruto withdrew his arm.

"Th-thanks Naruto-kun…"

"Yeah, let's try and find someone awesome and hot for you to go with. How about-"

"Naruto-Kun, we should go to the grounds. I was going to use this free period to help you in baseball," said Gaara.

"Huh? Oh, right"

Well, for such a quiet guy, he sure found the most convenient places to interrupt. Naruto didn't even know who to suggest as Hinata's prom date anyway, thank god Gaara interrupted.

"I h-have a f-free period too! Can I c-come and watch?" Hinata piped up.

"Yeah, sure Hinata,"

"And you know," said Gaara, "I need a partner too…"

--

Jealous much Gaara? NWAHhh. I'll try to be more frequent with my updates now. I'll try :D.


	8. The Baseball Game

Wow

Wow. I still have fans. I thought I had gone and killed my whole fanbase, but you guys are still here. It means a lot to me guys, heaps. I am not a good writer, and this is the first time I've had this many great reviews. Thanks so much guys :D. This was originally supposed to be a slightly tongue in cheek story bashing the concept of High School. Because; quite frankly, I hate high school, but wow, it turned into a lot more than that. My school really isn't as interesting at this though. Thanks guys. I love you :D.

--

Well, so much for Kiba returning to the team. A whole two weeks on, nu-uh, no sign of Kiba Inuzuka going to change his ways.

But Naruto had thought that the prospect of Kiba not hanging out with them anymore may have had a chance of boosting Naruto and Hinata's grades (Gaara's grades were already good, but then again, he came from the Land of Wind's top private school; Suna Academy), but no luck. None of the teachers seemed to notice anybody's depression. Nope.

All that mattered to them was study and homework.

Ah, the eleventh grade. The hardest of them all. They teach you everything in the eleventh grade, and then test you on it. Then they ask you to remember it, and then test you on it AGAIN the following year. But at least they don't teach you anything new, nor do they give you homework. Oh how great would it be to get out of the eleventh grade?

Naruto opened his eyes; the stack of homework was STILL there at the end of his bed. Damnit he wished he was a ninja. Ninjas didn't have to do homework. Everything they did was physical. But noooooo, at Konoha High you even get homework for Physical Education.

Well, on the bright side, he had Hinata. Hinata had agreed to help with his homework, and while she wasn't as intelligent as maybe somebody like Sakura, she had offered to sit with Naruto and help. Oh, and she had Gaara helping her too. Gaara the private school kid.

But it was Saturday. Naruto had the whole day to do his work. He might as well sleep in for a bit. He closed his eyes, dreaming of a ninja world, where there was no such thing as homework.

"You really should get some of that homework done, dobe,"

Freaking Sasuke. He can waste his life and get up early on the weekends, but Naruto reserved the right not to have Sasuke interrupt_ him._

"I am. I'm having Hinata help me later. Now let me sleep,"

Naruto rolled over grumpily. He heard Sasuke snort.

"Get up dobe. The baseball game, remember?"

Oh right. The opening game.

Argh that was so like Sasuke; to tell Naruto to do his homework, even though Sasuke knew very well that Naruto had something else to do. Stupid, stupid, moronic, idiotic stupid-

Argh, of all people for Sakura to date, SASUKE UCHIHA?

"I'm coming. Give me five more minutes. Go find Sakura and get something to eat or something,"

"What, and forfeit our game because we're a player short?"

"I said I'm getting up. Go away,"

"Not until you get up, dobe,"

Naruto threw the sheet off him furiously. There had to be at least two hours until the game started, otherwise Sasuke wouldn't be here still. He sat up and opened his eyes.

Sasuke was already dressed, his tee had "1: Uchiha" written across the back.

"How long have we got until the game?" Naruto asked grumpily.

"Two hours, but I'm not having you play on my team if you're still half asleep,"

He always referred to it as _his _team. Never "the" team. It's always Sasuke's team.

"Good, now go get some breakfast, and make sure you turn up at the stadium at ten thirty. Fail to show up, and I'll remove you from the team,"

"I w-"

Slam.

Duh duh duh; Sasuke was gone. Sure, there were a lot of delinquents at Konoha High, but Naruto didn't hate any of them as much as he hated Sasuke.

Nothing was going to make Naruto forget the opening game. It was against the Kusakagure team. It was going to be easy. They were play against the land of bloody GRASS. Leaves were far cooler. Besides, it wasn't as if Naruto was going to not show up and then let Sasuke go and show off how good he was to everybody. This was Naruto's chance to show Sakura what he was made of, and to prove that he was better than Sasuke.

But that was if Sakura actually would turn up at the game, that was.

Truth be told, Sakura had just been depressed lately. It had now become clear that she wasn't depressed in a Sasuke kind of way. Sasuke just acted depressed all the time for no apparent reason, it was like he thought it was cool to hate his life. No, Sakura definitely had a reason. She had been removed from the cheerleaders for some reason, and she had definitely had a fall-out with Ino, who had been her best friend for a long time; but there was something else upsetting her. She had skipped three whole days of school, and while she didn't get into trouble (She was an ace student after all), she missed out on a lot of things, and Sasuke had spent the whole past week going off to Sakura's room to catch her up. Maybe she'd skip the baseball game too.

_Knock, knock._

"For God's sake, I'm up, what the frik do you want now?"

Naruto stormed over to the door. Didn't Sasuke know how to give up?

Oh, maybe he did, considering it was Hinata, not Sasuke, who had been knocking on the door.

Hinata was with Gaara, who was also already dressed for the game. His shirt read "2: Subaku". He was the vice captain of the team (Which was pretty stupid on Sasuke's part, considering that Gaara wasn't even FROM Konoha and he was going back to Suna Academy in just a couple of weeks).

But forget Gaara. The highlight was Hinata. She looked really cute.

Looks like she had tried to dress up for the game, but she had done a good job. She was wearing this really adorable yellow dress with little pink flowers on it, it had short sleeves and went just down to her knees. She was also wearing cute sandals, and a matching pink hat.

"Wow, you look good Hinata," said Naruto, "Sorry about that just then, I thought it was the dope Sasuke again,"

Hinata giggled.

This made Naruto feel a little better. Hinata had been fairly depressed lately as well. Not as much so as Sakura, but Kiba's departure had gotten to Hinata a fair bit. Seeing her giggle again was nice.

"You're not dressed yet, Uzumaki," said Gaara. Well, that was kind of obvious.

"Yeah, I just got up. We still have a while until the game, don't we?"

"O-oh, y-yes, another hour and a half," said Hinata, "G-Gaara and I figured you were t-tired so we b-bought some breakfast, and we t-thought we'd come here and share it with y-you,"

She pointed to the little pink bag she was holding. Aww, they had gone to the trouble of buying Naruto food. Well, Hinata had. Gaara had probably just followed her and not done anything.

"Cool," said Naruto, "Thanks guys. I'll tell you what, I'll go get dressed in the bathroom, you come in um yeah, put the food on Sasuke's bed. Spill as much of it as you can!"

He went to get changed, feeling a little better than before. Maybe it was the fact that somebody had bought breakfast and was going to cheer him on for the game. Wow, it was so nice having Hinata here to do everything for him, she really was a great friend.

Hinata and Gaara had bought McDonalds. Yes, McDonalds breakfast. Everybody loved McDonalds breakfast. The three of them sat there, eating for a whole hour, spilling crumbs on Sasuke's bed, but during the time, they barely exchanged a word. Naruto was so anxious about the game… would he really shine? If he didn't shine this game, there was always next game, but Gaara might not be there when the time came.

And for some reason, Naruto felt that there was something he had to prove to Gaara, as well as Sasuke. But he didn't know exactly what.

--

Contrary to Sasuke's theories, Naruto arrived at the field on time. Hinata had spent the past fifteen minutes wishing Gaara and him good luck. It didn't look like she was done yet, either.

"I-I'm sure y-you'll win!" she said, as they got to the gates.

"We have to go to the change rooms, this way," said Gaara, pointing to one gate.

"You go," said Naruto, "I'll go find Hinata a seat, and then I'll come and join you,"

"Huh? Uchiha won't be happy with you,"

"Tell him I said I'm coming," said Naruto. He gave Gaara a slight push.

"Okay…"

"G-Good luck Gaara-Kun!" Hinata squealed behind him.

As soon as Gaara had vanished, Naruto decided to escort Hinata up to find some good seats. In this dress, she looked incredibly vulnerable to kidnapping, due to her ultimate cuteness.

"There! It's a front row one," said Naruto, as they climbed the stairs. He pointed to a seat down the front. Hinata shook her head.

"L-let's go to the third row. T-there's two seats there," she indicated, pointing.

"But Hinata, I don't need a seat, I have to go,"

"I k-know, b-but…just in case,"

"Alright," said Naruto. He didn't really know what Hinata was on about, but he had to go.

"T-thanks Naruto-kun…" she said, sitting down and putting her bag on the other seat, "G-good luck to you too,"

"Yeah, thanks Hina-"

"So like, can we sit at the back, Kiba darling? Unless you want to watch this game?"

"Sure, let's go, but I thought you might want to watch the cheerleading, babe,"

"Nah, I've got Matsuri leading them. She's great, trust me, they won't stuff up. We don't need to watch,"

Oh, of all people who could possibly ruin the atmosphere, it had to be Ino and Kiba. Naruto glared at them as they came up the stairs and walked right past him.

"K-kiba…" Hinata squealed, "I s-saved you a seat!"

So that's what the extra seat was for. Naruto wished that Hinata hadn't done that, because he knew what was going to come next.

Kiba ignored Hinata. Arm around Ino, he walked straight past. He looked like such a…pimp. He had done something to his hair to make it look extra "spunky", and he was wearing a black shirt and baggy jeans. Ino looked like his female counterpart in a black micro skirt and white singlet.

Unable to control himself, Naruto gave Kiba's back the finger.

But once again, he was ignored. Well, it wasn't like Kiba saw him, but there was no way that Kiba didn't hear Hinata. She had put a lot of courage in asking him to sit with her, but she was just rejected. Naruto looked at her, she wasn't crying, but she had sunk into her seat, and her little face looked saddened. Naruto sighed.

"Listen Hina-"

"CAN NUMBER SEVEN, NARUTO UZAMAKI PLEASE GET DOWN HERE, WE ARE ABOUT TO START,"

Two words; Sasuke and a megaphone.

"G-Good luck," said Hinata again. Naruto gave her the peace sign, and instead of using the stairs, jumped right off the stands into the field, where Sasuke was waiting for him.

"What did I tell you about being late, moron," said Sasuke angrily.

"What? I went to find a seat for Hinata, and then we got interrupted and-"

"I don't care. Just try and go find her a seat a bit quicker next time,"

Naruto looked around and the opposing team. They were already there, practicing throwing the ball to each other. These guys all had dark hair, and some of them _did _look strong. Naruto looked at his own team, he didn't recognize all of them. There was Gaara, Sasuke, Shikamaru and Rock Lee. He didn't have any idea who the rest of them were.

"Alright coach, we're ready," Sasuke shouted to Coach Asuma.

Naruto went and joined the line. This was going to be an interesting game.

-

"Heya guys, and welcome to the first game for the season, Konoha High vs. Kusa College, give it up for our players! For our Away team, Kusa, we have Fumi, Kiriyuki…"

Hinata watched from the crowd as the commentary began for the game. She loved sports, but as she looked around, she realized that there weren't many girls. Most of the girls who had turned up were just there because their boyfriends asked them to come. Sort of like Kiba and I-

No, she didn't want to think about that. Hinata focused her heart on the commentary. She didn't have to think about that. This was Naruto and Gaara's game! That was what she had come here for!

"…and for Konoha we have Uchiha, Subaku, Nara, Futari…"

"Is somebody sitting here?"

Hinata looked at the seat next to her. Somebody was asking to sit there, next to her. But that seat was saved for Kiba. Nobody could sit there.

"Sorry… somebody is…"

"Oh, okay,"

They moved on, and Hinata sighed. Why didn't she just give up the seat? She knew Kiba wasn't going to come sit next to her… but she couldn't give up his seat. In the past, when she knew Kiba wasn't going to be in class because of a detention or something, she still saved him a seat, and even now, nothing had changed.

"...Lee and Uzumaki! And I'm Tenten, your commentator for today! Ah, looks like they're tossing the bat! I wonder what our outcome is gonna be…"

Hinata craned her neck to see what was going on.

"And it looks like Uchiha wins! Yes, Sasuke Uchiha, the three years straight team captain of Team Konoha High. What's this? Looks like Konoha is going to field,"

There was a massive round of applause as Konoha ventured out to their places. Hinata noticed Naruto standing in the outfield. She wanted to wave to him, but she didn't want to distract him.

"ALRIGHT, PLAY BALL!" screamed Tenten into the microphone, "It's my first time as commentator here, but WOOOOOOH, GIMME A CHEER,"

There was another round of applause, even though Tenten hadn't actually done anything. Hinata gave a little clap too. She had to do her best to enjoy this.

"First up for Kusa is Genkou. Oooh, our multitalented Sasuke Uchiha is doing our pitching today! Alright, here he throws… STRIKE! Looks like Uchiha's fast pitching is just too much, and he's awesome on the field too! CAN KUSA STAND UP TO OUR SASUKE UCHIHA? I DON'T KNOW! WHOOOOOOOO,"

So Sasuke really was good. Hinata knew he had been the captain of the team for a little while now, but she had actually never seen him play. In the past, she had never attended the baseball games, because Kiba didn't like them.

"Here he goes again… Ooh, looks like Genkou's hit it. That's the problem with fast pitching. IF IT GETS HIT IT GOES FA- OH WOW, FAST PITCH, FAST HIT AND CAUGHT?! THE BALL WAS CAUGHT! GENKOU'S OUT!"

Hinata barely got a chance to watch that play, as it was so fast. Sasuke Uchiha's pitching, and Genkou's hit; but the hit could have gone far. But it was caught; caught by Gaara. Hinata rubbed her eyes; yep, it was definitely Gaara who was holding the ball.

"Yay! Go Gaara-Kun!!" said Hinata, clapping along with the rest of the crowd.

"SUBAKU NO GAARA," shouted Tenten through the applause, "A TOTAL NEWBIE, AND AN EXCHANGE STUDENT FROM SUNA ACADEMY! I GUESS THAT GAARA REALLY IS A STAR, OR THEY TRAIN YOU REAL WELL THERE! NO RUNS SO FAR FOR KUSA, AND ONE OUT, THIS MAGIC TEAM OF SUBAKU AND UCHIHA, FROM THE LOOKS OF THINGS, THIS COULD BE KONOHA'S GREATEST SEASON…"

Maybe Tenten was right; this really could be Konoha's best season. None of the others on the team really needed to do anything, it was just Gaara and Sasuke. Naruto didn't do anything at all. There was one time when the ball DID go out to the outfield, but Naruto and the centerfield, Rock Lee, both ran after it, bumped heads, and then failed to get the ball before the batter got home.

"OOOOOOOOH, MIYOSI GETS HOME! LOOKS LIKE UZUMAKI AND LEE NEED TO REALLY WATCH WHERE THEY'RE GOING AS WELL AS THE BALL! WHAT'S THIS? UCHIHA DOESN'T LOOK TOO HAPPY! IT'S BATTER UP, FUMI… OH DEAR, UCHIHA IS ANGRY. THAT FAST BALL IS WAYYYYY FASTER THAN LAST TIME!!"

Hinata sighed, and looked at Naruto. He had done a good job, running after the ball, and it wasn't his fault either. The ball was closer to where Naruto was standing, it was just that Lee was a faster runner. But it didn't matter, the fact that Naruto was trying was all he needed to win. Win with Hinata, anyway.

" STER-IKE TWO!" Tenten was calling; Sasuke didn't look happy at all. Maybe it was Naruto and Lee's stuff up, and even though Hinata didn't really have an opinion on Sasuke, she felt that it was a little nasty of him.

"STRIKE THREE, YOU'RE OUT!! OOH, THAT'S THREE OUT, LOOKS LIKE THAT'S IT FOR KUSA COLLEGE'S INNINGS! THEY HAVE TO GET THE THREE STRAIGHT AWAY, NOT LETTING ANYONE GET HOME. IS THIS POSSIBLE VERSUS SUCH OPPONENTS SUCH AS SUBAKU, AND UCHIHA? SIDE AWAY!"

And Uzumaki, Hinata thought to herself. Against Naruto, they couldn't win; he was too determined. You couldn't beat Naruto. Sure, Gaara and Sasuke had skill, but did they have those guts?

"SO FIRST UP FOR KONOHA IS NARA! A YOUNG CLASS CAPTAIN I HEAR! LET'S SEE HOW HE FARES ON THE FIELD!"

The pitcher for Kusa was a very tall guy, butt he couldn't pitch as fast as Sasuke. Konoha really had this one in the bag.

"HE THROWS AND HE… DOESN'T HIT? NARA JUST STOOD THERE, HE DIDN'T HIT THE BALL! INSTEAD THE BALL HITS NARA! LOOKS LIKE IT'S A ST- WHAT'S THIS? A WALK? I SWEAR THAT HIT NARA SOMEWHERE WHERE HE COULD HAVE EASILY HIT IT, BUT THE GUY GETS A WALK FOR JUST STANDING THERE? NOW I'VE SEEN ANYTHING! WELL GUYS, SHIKAMARU NARA TAKES FIRST BASE, "

…

Well, considering Shikamaru, that wasn't surprising. But, why did he join the team if he was just going to stand there? He seemed to enjoy not having to do anything during the fielding either.

"WHAT'S THIS? KUSA'S CAPTAIN GOING OFF TO ARGUE WITH THE REF! AND NOW UCHIHA'S GETTING INVOLVED?! WHAT'S GOING ON? HUH, NOW KUSA CAPTAIN, FUMI, IS PROVOKING UCHIHA AND OH UCHIHA STRIKES AND….. THE WHISTLE! THE WHISTLE!"

Sasuke, Fumi and Referee were mostly blocked off by the fence, so Hinata had to stand up to see the referee keeping Sasuke and Fumi off each other.

"LOOKS LIKE NARA GETS TO KEEP HIS BASE… BUT HUH… OH-"

Tenten swore very loudly.

"-UCHIHA IS GETTING SENT OFF. HE'S BANNED FROM PLAYING FOR THE REST OF THE MATCH!"

"USE THAT LANGUAGE AGAIN, AND YOU'RE BANNED FROM COMMENTATING FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON," Coach Asuma shouted into the megaphone, but nobody heard him. Everybody was too busy booing the referee. Sasuke, sent off? Sasuke was team Konoha's best player.

"UCHIHA LOSES HIS BAT THIS AS WELL! THIS IS PROPOSTEROUS!"

Hinata had stood up just in time to see Sasuke strike a punch, but it wasn't that violent, and she had been pretty sure than Fumi had provoked him. This didn't seem fair; but this sort of thing often happened in sport, sadly.

"Is someone sitting here, Hinata,"

"Yes…" Hinata muttered, not taking her eyes off the match. And then she realized that whoever was trying to get the seat knew her name. She looked around in horror, as soon as she realized who it was. Her cousin; Neji.

--

I'm going to upload the rest of the baseball game soon. It WAS originally going to be one chapter, but it's very long, so I split it into two. Sorry about nothing really happening this chapter XD.


	9. Neji's Advice

Wow. Reviews already? It's been only half a day Oo. I love you guys :D.

EDIT 26/05/08: Thanks for the reviews so far guys, but I just re-read my own writing, and I realized that my writing was ATROCIOUS. My god I made like a zillion typos. That's what I get for writing at like three in the morning.

--

"Neji-nii-san…" she said, removing her bag for her cousin, "Oh, you can sit there…"

She wasn't in the mood for Neji's criticism, and she was somewhat relieved to know that he didn't have any as he sat down.

"Who were you saving that seat for?" Neji asked. Hinata sighed; she knew Neji didn't approve of Kiba.

Even to the baseball game, Neji was dressed in his school uniform. His _School Captain _badge gleamed in the sun. His hair was nice and shiny and tied back. He was also much taller than Hinata.

"I-I was saving it for N-Naruto-kun," Hinata lied, Neji looked around at her.

"Let me guess, he chose not to show up?" he said, giving Hinata his little lol-I'm-better-than-you smirk. This little facial expression scared Hinata.

"N-no… he's playing!"

"Oh really, I didn't see him,"

"H-he's on the outfield,"

"OH, _he_ was the one who hit Lee during the field segment. Heh, I don't know what Tenten's thinking saying that this is Konoha's best season. Personally, I don't care, sports are a waste of time for me,"

"I-if you don't like sports, why are you here," Hinata asked. Neji snorted.

"Tenten. I don't know WHY she wanted to commentate, she's ruining her reputation doing this,"

"O-oh, but she's good a-at this. She's really tomboy-ish, isn't she?" Hinata asked. Neji shrugged.

"I don't know, but she looks stunning in a dress. You'll see her at the prom, she's my partner,"

Hinata paid no attention to the game going on below, her cousin had brought up the prom. She didn't want to discuss that with anyone. Least of all, her cousin. While they were talking, batter number two AND Shikamaru both got out, even though batter two did hit the ball, only Shikamaru didn't run off first base, and then they both ended up there, and both got out. Tenten was screaming with outrage, and even though Neji twitched every time she said "OOOOOOOOOOH", Hinata didn't notice.

"AND NEXT UP, WE HAVE OUR RISING STAR, SUBAKU NO GAARA! OOOOH, IT'S A PITY THE BASES AIN'T LOADED, BECAUSE SOMETHING TELLS ME THAT THIS GUY COULD SAVE KONOHA!"

Hinata tried to ignore Neji as she watched Gaara step up to the plate. The only thing was, this was Neji, and she never was that good at ignoring him.

"That kid is your roommate right why d-,"

Neji kept talking, as always. He was good at that, talking. Thankfully, he was cut off by Gaara hitting the ball. Hitting it hard. So hard it flew right past the diamond, far out into the outfield. The fielders ran out to get the ball, but too slow!

"HOME RUNNNNNNNNNNN," Tenten screamed, "SUBAKU NO GAARA HITS A HOMERUN! WOW, I SURE WIN ALL MY BETS, THIS TOTALLY NEW SUNA KID HAS GOT KONOHA THE WIN! GEE, I'M GOING TO MOVE TO SUNA BEFORE I LEARN HOW TO PLAY BASEBALL, BECAUSE THIS GUY MAKES IT LOOK SO EASY!"

Hinata didn't care about embarrassing herself in front of her cousin anymore; she stood up and stomped her foot and clapped for Gaara, just like the rest of the stadium, as Gaara touched home plate in such a cool way. Even Neji was leaning over to watch him. It was so strange how Gaara was so quiet; yet he had so much skill on the field.

"That guy," said Neji as Hinata sat back down, "He's your roommate, isn't he?"

"Yes! He is, I'm so proud of him!" Hinata practically shouted at him.

"Ever considered asking him to the prom?" he asked, Hinata let her face fall. The prom again. She shook her head.

"Gaara's a good friend Neji-nii-san, b-but, not my idea of a prom date,"

"I hear he's pretty intelligent," Neji added, Hinata shook her head frantically.

"He's really nice, but I'm not interested in him in that way, OKAY!"

WHY did he always get the answers out of her? Why had she just told him that? What if he told Gaara? Why couldn't Hinata just keep her mouth closed; and just block Neji.

Neji's reaction was very delayed. He gave a quiet "Oh," and then sighed.

"As long as you're not going with that Inuzuka boy," Neji said firmly. Hinata looked away from him. Did he have to bring all of this up? Sometimes, she just hated her cousin.

"He's going w-with Ino Y-Yamanaka,"

"Her?" Neji shriveled up his nose, "She thinks that I'm going out with her "4eva,", I believe it was _her_ that stuck that note in my locker on valentines day. She's the Cheerleading captain, right?"

"S-She was, b-but she broke her wrist. I think she's still the captain, but s-she isn't cheerleading now,"

"Serves her right, but how on earth can she be cheerleading captain if she's not actually cheerleading" spat Neji

"I-I don't know…" Hinata muttered. So, Neji disliked Ino as well. But Hinata knew that Neji wouldn't help get Kiba back; because he disliked Kiba too.

"Inuzuka and Yamanaka," Neji droned on sarcastically, "What a perfect couple,"

Hinata went back to ignore-Neji mode. Well, try-to-ignore-Neji-mode. She focused back on Tenten.

"NEXT UP IS MEANT TO BE UCHIHA, BUT APPARENTLY HE IS STILL BANNED, BUT HIS DISMISSAL DOESN'T COUNT AS AN OUT; SO KONOHA ARE STILL IN IT TO WIN IT! SUBAKU HAS EVENED THE SCORES, BUT KONOHA NEEDS ANOTHER RUN TO WIN….. WE HAVE HIKO NOW!

"Hey, come to think of it, weren't you going to try out for the cheerleading team, Hinata?" Neji asked, Hinata sighed.

"Y-Yes, I was… but I-I got r-rejected,"

Well, Hinata didn't see what came next coming. Neji grabbed her wrist hard and turned her to face him. Very fast. Hinata put her other hand on top of his, attempting to loosen his grip.

"W-What?!" she squeaked, he looked into her eyes, but this time, he wasn't smirking. He looked truly angry with her.

"Did you just say you got rejected?"

Hinata's eyes widened. She looked into her cousins sharp gaze, wondering what had set him off all of a sudden. Neji gave her a little shake.

"Huh? Did you just say that you got REJECTED?"

"Y-Yes… what…?"

"Hinata; THE HYUUGA FAMILY _DON'T _GET REJECTED,"

He tightened his grip on her wrist, as she cringed in pain.

"I don't know if you realize, but the Hyuuga family is the most prestigious family to ever come through Konoha High. Your father was the school captain, our grandfather was too, every single Hyuuga to come through this school has held some kind of position of power, and even if they didn't; they made sure they got onto everything they tried out for. EVERYTHING,"

Neji's _School Captain _badge gleamed in the sun; Hinata didn't want to hear him talk anymore. She had heard it so many times. The Hyuuga family; their name written all over the SCHOOL CAPTAINS board in the reception; were the more highly valued family ever to attend Konoha high. But it wasn't only Neji who talked about this; It was Hinata's own father. Ever since she had started at Konoha High, her father had urged her to go for gold and become class captain, and now he wanted her to go for school captain too. But Hinata wasn't Neji. Neji was a good speaker, he was on the debating team, he had good looks, and he was popular. He was also strong and confident. He _was _your stereotypical school captain. Hinata knew she wasn't any of that.

"Look, I don't mind if you're not class captain because nobody votes you, but the cheerleading team isn't based on the opinion of others. It's based on your trial," he kept saying, Hinata closed her eyes; his face was getting scary, "You obviously didn't practice enough. Tell me, WHY WEREN'T YOU CHOSEN? I get chosen for _everything _I try out for because I practice. I make sure I get on, and that's WHY I get on. Our whole family is like that. Ever since this school opened, the Hyuuga Family have strived to be the best known students. We don't go to private school, but we don't need to, as we're better known than ANY private school students,"

Neji was starting to make less and less sense with every word he said. Hinata didn't want to hear this anymore. Her father had told her this many times already.

"N-Neji-nii-san… I did practice… b-but Ino didn't see me try-out. S-She just rejected me," she squealed, hoping that he would just let go.

Instead he gripped her tighter.

"WHAT? Ino Yamanaka didn't see you tryout?" Neji yelled, "She had to. It's a rule, and I'm pretty sure you know that. She can't just reject you without basis, and I know there was definitely a space on that team because the one who dropped out was none other than Tenten,"

"I-I know t-that…"

"THEN WHY DID YOU LET HER REJECT YOU?"

Some of the people around them were looking at them now. Hinata felt her eyes fill up with tears now. Why did he have to do this in public?

"I-I c-couldn't talk b-back to her… s-she's the captain," Hinata muttered, Neji looked like he was going to hit her.

"Hinata, you're just a disgrace to our family. You're not standing up to her just because she's the cheerleading captain. And she's INO YAMANAKA for God's sake,"

"I-Ino can do a lot! S-Sakura H-Haruno… w-was Ino's best f-friend a-and…"

"That's Sakura Haruno's problem. Maybe she doesn't have a lot of self confidence. I don't know, nor do I care. BUT THE HYUUGA FAMILY DON'T HAVE LOW SELF-CONFIDENCE,"

Neji acted like the Hyuuga Family were the Royal Family.

"Even Kiba Inuzuka has more sense than you. He stands up to me all the time and I'm the bloody SCHOOL CAPTAIN. Like I said Hinata, you're a disgrace,"

He let go of her. Hinata opened her eyes; her wrist had a red mark on it where Neji's nails had dug into it.

"B-But I d-don't know what to do N-Neji-s-san… e-even if I did a try-out… S-She'll reject me… s-she doesn't like me,"

Neji didn't turn back to look at her; his face remained fixed on the baseball game.

"Do you have any proof that she decides based on whether she likes you or not?"

"Y-Yes… S-Sakura H-Haruno… K-Kiba…" Hinata mumbled.

Her greatest fear was that this was going to get to her father. If her father found out, she was finished, and Neji always told him things. Always, and Hinata hated it.

"Have Sakura Haruno or Kiba actually talked to you about this, or is it just your assumptions?"

"S-Sakura d-doesn't talk to anyone anymore! A-And Kiba h-hates me now too…"

"Maybe I'll be willing to help if you actually get something out of them," spat Neji, still facing the other way.

He still wasn't looking at Hinata, but she noticed that he had said that he was _willing to help. _

"…If you can't talk to Ino Yamanaka for some stupid reason, go find some other people who're against her. And then get her back as a group,"

Talk to Kiba? Talk to Sakura Haruno? Kiba was, for obvious reasons, probably not going to help. All he'd do is support Ino; even before he left Hinata, he backed up Ino, back when Ino rejected Hinata. As for Sakura Haruno, she wasn't talking to anybody anymore, and Sasuke Uchiha was very overprotective of her. Sasuke was much like Neji in many ways, and not just intelligence, Sasuke had that aura of you-don't-want-to-go-near-him. Sakura wasn't the type to talk about her problems anyway. Hinata sighed; what was she going to do?

Tenten was still commentating. The last batter, Hiko, who Hinata hadn't seen hit, thanks to Neji, was standing on Second Base. There were only two batters left now, and Naruto was one of them.

"NEXT UP IS LEE," Tenten yelled into the microphone, "FIRST SEASON FOR HIM, I BELIEVE…"

Next to Hinata, Neji gave a snort as Rock Lee came up to the field.

"Stupid Lee," Neji muttered.

"He's a nice guy Neji-san," Hinata said softly; then she wished she hadn't said it; it could lead to another Neji outburst.

"He's failing school. That guy has ALWAYS been at the bottom of my class, and the worst part is, the teachers always ask ME to help him. He should be doing his assignments and instead he's playing baseball…? What an idiot,"

Nobody in Neji's grade ever talked to Rock Lee, which was strange, because he was somewhat good at sport, and really nice. Hinata considered retaliating, but she kept quiet, and hoped that Lee's hit would speak for itself.

"FOUL BALL!" Tenten shouted, "SO THAT'S STRIKE ONE!"

"Pfft," said Neji, leaning over to watch as well.

"I'm sure he'll hit it," Hinata whispered. She _hoped _Lee would hit it, because if he went out, then that would be three outs, and then Naruto wouldn't get a shot at batting. Hinata crossed her fingers in her lap.

"AHAHA, ANOTHER FOUL? STRIKE TWO!"

Apparently not. Neji was actually laughing silently next to her. How dare he; He probably didn't even know _what _a foul meant.

"Go Lee! You can do it!" Hinata shouted, standing up, Neji gave off another "Pfft". Tenten continued commentating.

"THE PITCHER THROWS, LEE HITS, AND F- OH WAIT, THIS ONE'S IN. JUST IN!"

"Phew," Hinata sighed, sitting down again.

"He's still better off doing his assignment,"

"ROCK LEE HITS A SINGLE! A SINGLE! HE PUTS MIKO ON THIRD, AND HIMSELF ON FIRST, THUS PUTTING ALL OF IT UP TO TEAM KONOHA'S LAST PLAYER! UZAMAKI!"

Hinata stood up again. This was what she had really been waiting for. Neji was giving her even more strange looks, but she didn't care.

"GOOOOO NARUTO!!" she screamed, as Naruto took his place.

"HEY SIT DOWN GIRL," shouted the guy behind her, but she wasn't listening!

"NARUTO UZAMAKI! A NEW PLAYER, I HEAR HE'S SASUKE UCHIHA'S ROOMMATE, BUT DOES THAT MEAN ANYTHING? LET'S JUST HOPE THAT HIS BATTING IS BETTER THAN HIS FIELDING STUFF UP FROM BEFORE!"

Tenten was virtually insulting Naruto into the microphone, and to think that Hinata's cousin was dating her. Hinata ignored Tenten's commentating too now; as all that mattered was Naruto's performance. She didn't care if he hit it or not, but she didn't want Naruto to be sad, so she wanted him to hit it.

"AND HE THROWS AND HE… HE HITS!"

Hinata had been expecting a strike, but she didn't even get one of those. She prayed that the hit would go far, far enough to get Miko, Lee and Naruto home… and sometimes, God really does answer your prays.

"IT'S FLYING, IT'S FLYIN'! THAT'S GONNA GO SOMEWHERE… HERE IT COMES…..YESSSSSSS, UZAMAKI BREAKS SUBAKU'S DISTANCE, THE BALL GOES FURTHER, AND THIS IS A HOMER FOR SURE!! YES, THAT'S MIKO HOME…

Hinata was standing on top of her chair now. Neji's now had a "I AM TOTALLY NOT RELATED TO HER" look on his face, but that was the least of Hinata's worried. Hinata really wished she WAS a cheerleader now, with Pom Pom's… cheering Naruto on…

"HERE GOES LEE… YES, THAT'S TWO HOME…"

She looked at Naruto, from here she couldn't see the look on his face, but she knew that he had the "Never Give Up" demeanor about him now, even if she couldn't see it. That was Naruto; he never gave up.

"AND UZAMAKI TOUCHES HOME PLATE! HE SAVES THE DAY, NOT ONLY BEATING KUSA COLLEGE, BUT GETTING THREE MEN HOME IN THE PROCESS!"

Then the whistle blew. Hinata started jumping up and down as the crowd cheered; people behind her were trying to get a look around, but Hinata was too busy to allow them. NARUTO HAD WON THE MATCH. He had done more than that too; he had changed Hinata.

"Neji-nii-san," Hinata said, no, shouted, Neji looked up at her.

"What?"

"I'm going to get Ino Yamanaka back. I am, I am,"

Neji looked at her for a long time. Then, he smiled.

"Good, I knew you'd come around eventually, you have the Hyuuga blood, after all,"

"And also…" she added, not bothering to comment on his continued Hyuuga pride,

"What now?"

"Naruto Uzumaki is who I'm taking to the prom!"

To Hinata's surprise, Neji didn't snort.

"Get down from there, you're insulting the Hyuuga family,"

Only this time, he was smiling as he said it.

--

"Good Work team," Sasuke said to Naruto and the others, as they finished getting changed, "You can go now, and just remember, we still have another seven games this season. We won this time, but some of you didn't give all your best. You know who you are, don't stuff up next time, especially you Nara,"

Heh, thought Naruto. If anybody ought to be embarrassed, it was Sasuke. He actually got sent off for striking. Well, he obviously was embarrassed, considering how angry he looked, but whatever. It didn't matter. Sasuke didn't say "Especially you, Uzumaki,"

And that was because he couldn't. He just couldn't. Naruto was the one who had saved the day. The hero of the baseball game, and the rest of the team all knew it.

"Good work Naruto," said Lee, shuffling past and leaving the room, leaving just Naruto and Gaara. Oh, and Sasuke, only he was in a cubicle now; the poor guy had been so humiliated that he couldn't even get changed in public anymore.

"Bye Lee, you did good too," said Naruto, waving to Lee; he turned to Gaara, "I so owned Sasuke, didn't I,"

"Well, I don't know about "owned" because you were never against him," said Gaara quietly, "But you certainly performed better than him,"

_Better than you too, _Naruto thought to himself.

"You'll probably get a prom date now, Naruto, did you hear the crowd cheering for you?"

"Yeah," said Naruto. Geez, this guy talked about the prom a lot.

"Has Hinata got a date yet?" Gaara asked. He had asked this the day before as well.

"I don't think so. Why don't you go ask her?" Naruto said, picking up his bag, as they too started leaving the change room,

"I want to ask if…" Gaara started, "She'd be my da-"

Naruto didn't hear any of that, because somebody else started shouting through it.

"NARUTO-KUN! GAARA-KUN!" came Hinata's voice. Well, it was Hinata's voice, but not her pitch. She was shouting. Next thing he knew; Hinata had appeared the heck out of no where, and pulled both Gaara and him into a big hug.

"You guys played so well!" she said loudly. Naruto didn't get a chance to take a look at her, but Hinata seemed very well, high, to say the least.

"That was just great! Gaara's fielding and Naruto's hitting. O-Oh I watched the whole thing!"

"Thanks Hinata," said Gaara, Naruto looked around at him, his face was very red. Even more red than it had been before when he had been running. Strange.

"Did you see me hit, Hinata?" Naruto asked, she nodded,

"I said I did! It was the best!"

She finally let go of them, and Naruto got another look at her. She looked even better than before; her dress had that slight crumpled and wind blown look to it, and her hair had become a little messy with the excitement of the day. But she looked cute, and it was strange to admit it, but, she looked kind of beautiful as well.

"Oi, Hyuuga," came another shout, everybody turned. It was Sasuke, and he looked very pissed as he came towards them from the change room. Naruto noted that his shirt was inside-out.

"Leave her alone,' Naruto said, "You're just mad because you got sent off,"

"Shut it, Dobe," said Sasuke, he turned to Hinata, "You were watching from the B-Section of the stands right? Did you see Sakura?"

"N-No,"

Hinata had started stuttering again. All of her high-ness had vanished. Sasuke had turned her back into the old Hinata; but she still had that sense of beauty about her, as she looked down, not meeting Sasuke's gaze.

"Arghhh," groaned Sasuke, walking past without thanking Hinata, "So she didn't turn up. I don't know why she's so depressed. She said she was going to turn up and sit in the B-Section. What the heck,"

"Well he can't talk about other people being _depressed. _Stupid emo," Naruto muttered under his breath.

"Sakura Haruno d-didn't turn up…?" Hinata whispered, watching after Sasuke.

"She's been skipping a lot of school lately too," Gaara added.

"She's very upset about the cheerleading thing, I guess," said Naruto. Hinata turned around and looked at him.

"I hate Ino Yamanaka. I hate her," she said clearly, "I want to get her back, for everything she's done,"

Hinata wasn't high again, but there definitely was strength in her tone of voice. She meant what she was saying, that was for sure. Something about her had changed. Was it really Naruto's match which had done that? If it was, he sure was proud of himself.

And then Naruto realized something. This morning, he had woken up, thinking that if he won this game, it would mean that Sakura Haruno would like him. But it hadn't, because Sakura hadn't come to the game. The thing was; Naruto didn't care. He had always liked Sakura for her mental strength, and right now, Sakura wasn't showing that great a mental strength. But somebody else was…

And right now, she was the one Naruto was attracted to.

--

Thank God that's over. I am really not very good at sport myself, and I don't know the rules of baseball well. It's just that it's the only sport I know ENOUGH about to right a story on. Yes, I know there are no cheerleaders in baseball, but I don't know how to play basketball, and I needed cheerleaders for the plot, so now we have baseball cheerleaders. Sorry guys. Oh well, my horrible writing of sports I don't know how to actually play is over! YAY. Hmm, the NaruHina begins. Aww, Poor Gaara.


	10. Eww, It's Monday

Yes, it's official. This is officially my highest earning story. I have more reviews for this than for the pokemon fic, Make Your Move; my previous record holder. I have broken 50 reviews; I am so happy. Thanks guys :).

Also, updates are probably going to get a little less frequent. My mum has cut my computer time to one hour on Mondays through to Thursdays, so it's a little tight.

--

The excitement of winning the baseball game lasted the whole weekend. Naruto was hailed as some kind of hero by all those who had watched. On Sunday, he found some random people he had never spoken to telling him that he really could hit a ball far. It was a first, and Naruto knew that he definitely was on the way to stardom. Sure, he had expected Sakura to worship him too, but she hadn't come to the game, so Naruto couldn't really blame her. The good thing was; Sasuke Uchiha had gotten his name written in the mud.

People were laughing, yes LAUGHING at Sasuke Uchiha. Naruto caught some kids talking about how Sasuke really _was _a violent person. Well, what Naruto heard was that Sasuke was "_Psychologically challenged_,"

But it meant the same thing. Sasuke Uchiha was now being thought of as mentally unstable. He spent the whole of Sunday in the cabin, reading books. Naruto had figured that he may have gone and seen how Sakura was doing, because Sakura hadn't actually seen Sasuke punch the Kusa guy, and therefore, she wouldn't laugh at him, but instead, he just kept to himself.

Naruto had thought things couldn't get any better.

But then came Monday. Yes, MONDAY. The most evil day of the whole week.

--

With Monday, came the School Assembly. That meant singing Konoha High's stupid school song, listening to Principal Tsunade and Neji Hyuuga talk for an hour, and watching people receive awards for really stupid things. Oh and announcements, announcements made by the people who captained various things, such as Ino Yamanaka.

Ino already had a very loud voice. It was good for insulting people. She didn't need a microphone to get everybody to hear her stupid self, but still she stepped up to the mic to give her speech about whatever.

"I have a feeling this is going to be completely irrelevant to the school program," Naruto sighed as Ino adjusted the microphone in front of her.

"Yeah…" muttered Hinata, all eyes on the podium.

Something very strange had happened to Hinata during the baseball game. Normally, she would avoid looking at Ino, not wanting to catch her glance. But this past weekend, Hinata had been pretty confrontational about all of it. It was like she had learned to accept that just ignoring it wasn't going to solve the problem.

"Heya guys, this is your cheerleading captain, Ino. I just wanted to say that some of you didn't turn up for our Sunday training on Sunday…"

Naruto heard Hinata give a very little giggle next to him.

"S-Sunday training on _Sunday_…" she whispered, "She is a bit silly, isn't she…?"

"Uh… yeah," said Naruto. He exchanged a confused glance with Gaara, to the other side of Hinata.

Hinata was _laughing_ at Ino's stupidity.

Well, that was progress.

"So anyway," Ino continued, "I was pondering the meaning behind why you guys didn't turn up, and I got the answer! It's because of me, right? The fact that I broke my wrist? Aww guys, even though I can't cheerlead, it doesn't mean I'm leaving. I'm still the captain of this team! I _have_ got someone else coordinating the acts during the performance bit, but I'm still attending trainings, and trainings are still on! So please come along! You're not going to miss me… so don't worry…"

"Thank you, Miss Yamanaka,"

Principal Tsunade virtually pushed Ino away from the podium. Ino staggered down the stairs as she couldn't grip the rails with her broken wrist.

The Konoha High hall was pretty small. They were still a public school, so they didn't have much money. The students sat on little portable chairs which they had to move to the back of the hall after each assembly. The stage wasn't that big either.

"Any other announcements?" Principal Tsunade asked, adjusting the mic to her height. She was a very big and strong woman. Most of the teachers at the school were male, but Principal Tsunade was probably stronger than all of them put together.

The thing was, while she used to be a teacher, as soon as she hit the position of principal, she made sure that she lived the easy life. She mostly sat in her office, gambling on the net. She also only addressed the most important of problems, and the only time you ever saw her was during the Monday assemblies. At all other times, she would always get someone else to deal with the problem, unless it well and truly was, her problem.

"Oh, no announcements? Well that's good; dismissed. Make sure to get to your next lesson on time,"

--

"What class have we got now?" Naruto asked Hinata, as they too stood up to move from the assembly hall about five minutes later. Hinata gave a little shrug, "I think we have maths,"

"Yes, we have mathematics," said Gaara.

The three of them left started to leave the hall. No matter how much excitement the weekend had given them, a Monday always left everything washed out. Another whole week left until the next weekend. Right now, that meant another whole week left until the prom.

Oh yeah, the prom. It had come very, very quickly. With only a week left, everybody seemed to have gotten themselves a partner. Everybody except Naruto, Gaara and Hinata. Kiba and Ino were still an item, and they had apparently already bought everything they required (They wouldn't _shut up_ about their prom gear anyway). Sasuke and Sakura were still presumably going to the together, although there was now a chance that neither of them would show their face; so it wasn't like Naruto was going to get Sakura to go with him either way.

Considering that everybody got dismissed at the exact same time from Assembly, it was kind of strange how almost nobody else seemed to be in the maths classroom. Well, more unfortunate than strange; considering that the only people there were Kiba, Shikamaru and Ino.

Naruto's group had gotten pretty used to ignoring Kiba by now. Well, they didn't need to bother really, because Kiba just ignored them. Ino was the one who did the taunting, and Kiba was just her arm candy.

Today however, even Ino was too busy sweet talking Kiba to taunt them. Hinata, who was now an expert at walking very fast whenever she saw or heard Kiba, instantly found herself a seat at the front of the class, her manner of seating signaling the other two to follow.

Despite the fact they were sitting as far away from the enemy as possible, Naruto found that it was impossible to block Ino's voice out. She that thing about her. What was it called… oh yeah, annoying bitch syndrome.

"Oh, Kiba darling… mind if Shikamaru sits to my side today? I mean, this is an important lesson…" she crooned.

Naruto felt like he was going to feel sick as the scarily soppy sound of Ino's voice wafted closer.

"…And as sexy as you are baby, you're not as intelligent as Shikamaru, and yeah… I kinda don't want to fail maths,"

In other words, she was saying "Kiba can I sit next to Shikamaru so I can copy his answers, because you're too stupid,"

God, why wouldn't Kiba take the hint? She was only using him so that she wouldn't look unloved.

"Oh my god!" whisper-squealed Hinata randomly - Ok, the random squealing wasn't strange - but the talking when Kiba was around part was. Naruto looked up to see what the commotion was. And he didn't even have to look around to find it, considering that it had just walked in the door.

Sakura was back. Only she wasn't very Sakura-like anymore.

Her face was pasty bloodshot, revealing many days of tears. Her once perfect pink hair was a total mess, with strands hanging crimpled around her face. Even her emerald green eyes seemed to have dimmed in color. The poor girl looked so thin too…

"Sakura-Chan…" Hinata whispered. Sakura either didn't hear her or ignored her. She kept walking to where she used to sit, with Ino and Shikamaru – But Kiba's butt was filling that seat now. Unfortunately, Ino had noticed Sakura's attempt.

"Finally decided to come out of hiding, Haruno?" she said sweetly. Kiba and Shikamaru looked around at Sakura too.

Sakura was sweet, but she came up with the best comeback lines to things. This time however, she just ignored Ino, turned around, and put her things on a desk at the front of the room. Ino stared.

"Hmm, It would be nice if you just said hi,"

"Forget it Ino, come on, hurry up and copy my answers before Kakashi Sensei gets here. This is such a drag…" Shikamaru muttered - Ino heaved a sigh and soon enough, her pencil was scribbling away in her book.

"S-Sakura-Chan…" Hinata called softly across the isle in between the classroom. Sakura actually looked up this time.

"Do you w-want to sit with us…?"

Sakura changed gear, and was instantly back on ignore mode; she gave a slight incline of her head which looked very much like a no, and she opened her mouth; but no sound came out.

"Then we'll sit with you,"

To Naruto's shock, Hinata was already piling her books up again. Next second, she had stood up and was moving to sit next to Sakura.

"Hinata wait up,"

Naruto hadn't bothered to open his books yet, so he just took his pile and followed Hinata.

"Coming Gaara?"

Gaara had been scribbling away in his sketchbook. Like Sasuke, he seemed to draw a lot; and the thing was, he was a pretty good artist. It was actually getting kind of annoying now. How could Gaara be good at Sport, Academics AND Art all at the same time? Sure, people were now thinking Naruto was pretty cool for his performance at baseball, but Gaara was getting some attention too. Too much attention.

"Huh… Oh right, I'm comi-"

"GAARA OHMIGOSH!"

Oh, SURE, right when Naruto was thinking about Gaara getting too much attention, another fan girl bursts in. Gaara looked up from packing up his things.

"Oh, Hi Matsuri,"

It was the other Suna Academy kid. Naruto hadn't seen her for a while now, mostly because she was either looking after the cheerleading team nowadays or hanging around with Sai.

"I-I haven't talked to you for ages Gaara! I think maths and art are our only two classes together…"

Well, Gaara didn't look like he wanted to talk to _her_. He was scooping up his books rather quickly, and not even looking at the girl.

"Um… where are you sitting Gaara?"

"I'm moving over there with my friends,"

Matsuri followed Gaara as he moved, and then her face fell when she noticed that there were no other seats in that section.

"O-oh…" she said, walking past Naruto and coming to a halt in front of Gaara's new desk, "Anyway… Gaara, I was wondering if you wanted…"

Gaara still wasn't looking at her. Well, Naruto considered that a little bit rude, but maybe Gaara was just sick of all the fangirlism he was getting. He did get too much, anyway.

"MATURI HUN, THERE YOU ARE,"

Oh dear god no; just when the class seemed to already be full of the weirdest people in the whole school, another moron jumps in.

"Oh, heya Sai! Well, um… nice talking to you Gaara…"

Naruto and Gaara both turned towards the jester of the maths class.

As per usual, Sai stupidly batted his eyelashes at them.

"Oh dear Matsuri… why you talking to _these _losers…"

He made a letter "L" sign with his left hand, waving it at Naruto.

"…I'm sorry; I just took a detour through the bathroom and I'm oh so sorry for making you go to class alone, Matsuri! Come on, let's sit back here,"

"Coming,"

Matsuri shuffled away towards Sai. She too looked like a pretty miserable girl. Naruto had no idea as to _why _this was, considering that she WAS a cheerleader. And every other girl at the school seemed to be dying to get on the cheerleading team.

That brought Naruto back to Sakura. Matsuri and Sai's little interruption had made him forget about Sakura. Thankfully, Hinata hadn't been distracted. She was still watching Sakura intently, her big eyes widened even further as she watched Sakura. Naruto made to say something comforting too… buuut Kakashi Sensei chose that perfect moment to walk in.

"Hello, how are we today,"

The general murmur of "good Kakashi sensei," was even quieter than usual today.

"Before we start, I'd like to point out to a certain person who decided not to answer the question, that the square root of sixteen is four,"

Oh yeah; THAT. The question Naruto didn't answer because Sakura had told him what the answer was.

Naruto He hated maths. It was full of smart people.

"…what a pity that we now have to do an entire lesson on Square Roots when we could be doing something more _impressive _for our student teacher… everybody say hello to Subaku no Temari; our student teacher…"

Naruto hadn't seen Gaara's sister since the day that Gaara had started at the school, but here she was again. She couldn't possibly have been much older than them at all, she was twenty at the oldest. In a way, she was very pretty.

Naruto gave Gaara a little nudge.

"I thought your teacher was student teaching _art _not math,"

"Hmm?" Gaara looked up from his sketchbook, "What was that?"

"I thou-,"

"Ahem, in Suna, we are all very multi-talented,"

Gaara _had _opened his mouth to speak, but he had been interrupted by his sister herself. Forget her being pretty. She was just another arrogant teacher, once you got to hear her.

"Huh?" said Naruto, looking at her. She wore a lot of make-up, and in the slightest, she didn't even look like Gaara. Unlike him, she had eyebrows, and her hair was blonde. A sort of dirty blonde. She wasn't _bottle _blonde like Ino, but Naruto got the feeling that she didn't differ much in personality.

"I'm just saying, that at Suna Academy, we are taught to excel in all classes, not just one. I am capable of teaching maths and art,"

"That's nice to know, lady,"

"You're a friend of Gaara's, no?"

"Y-"

"Miss Subaku! I finished the project you assigned me to…"

Oh all the people in the class, the least likely to get randomly hyper was Shikamaru, so it really did come as a surprise when _he_ decided to randomly run to the front of the class holding a sheet of paper.

Temari Subaku turned away from Naruto and looked at Shikamaru instead.

"What's with him?" Naruto snarled. Gaara shrugged;

"My sister says he's a smart boy,"

"Um, he hangs out with Ino Yamanaka. That instantly deletes all chances he has of being a smart boy,"

Before Gaara got a chance to add to the conversation, Kakashi Sensei coughed rather loudly.

"That's enough, Mister Nara, back to your seat,"

Shikamaru didn't do what Kakashi Sensei had told him instantly. Temari-Sensei actually gave him a little pat on the back and told him that they'd "catch up later" before he went to sit down again.

"Right-o," Kakashi Sensei continued, "Now we can actually begin this class. Temari Sensei will be teaching, while I sit down and take notes. Be good for her, okay?"

"Later Naruto-Kun," Gaara muttered, opening his own exercise book. Oh yeah, Gaara was a studious person. Naruto sighed and threw open his book while Temari wrote things on the board.

"Alright, so I believe we're doing squares and square roots today, so…"

"Uh, miss," Sai called out through the murmur which had started at the apparent stupidity of studying something as basic as squares.

"Yes?"

"I believe we like already covered this. Yeah, we did, in like, seventh grade,"

There was a little bit of laughter from the back of the room. Mostly from Ino and Kiba. Temari-Sensei looked around at Sai.

"Your name is Sai, right?"

"That's right, Madam,"

"I hear you really are an intelligent student. Thanks so much for taking our Matsuri around. And yes, we have covered this, but apparently your teacher wants us to go over it,"

Bah. Wasn't she supposed to have like… an attitude? Her _hair_ looked dangerous. Even she looked a little evil. Why on earth didn't she tell Sai off for his cockyness?

"Alright, so as I was saying, squares. Squares are numbers which you get after multiplying a number by itself. So for example, one squared is one, two squared is four, three squared is nine, and so on…"

Talk about how _you_ had learned this in seventh grade all you want Sai, but Naruto still didn't get it. If it's a number multiplied by itself then why on earth was the number next to the number _always _a two. Squared numbers are not multiplied by two. What the hell; that number should be different each time…

"Now, when you wish to find out Square Roots, then you basically need to find out what number, multiplied by itself, gives you the number you're looking for the square root of. Does everybody follow?"

The rest of the class actually nodded, but the little subscript twos written next to all the numbers on the board still confused Naruto. He scribbled out his working. Why was this woman going on to the roots when Naruto didn't even get the SQUARES. AND WHAT DID THIS HAVE TO DO WITH SQUARES ANYWAY? Squares are little four sided shapes, not numbers.

"So for example, the square root of sixteen is four, and the square root of twenty five is five. These numbers, which have whole numbers for square roots are called Perfect Squares, however if you are wishing to figure out the square root of a number which isn't a perfect square, then it is important that…"

"Hold up a second, Temari," Kakashi Sensei interrupted.

"Oh, right, am I going too fast?"

"No. Now… Naruto as you probably know, this lesson is particularly for you,"

OH THAT'S NICE. Go and blurt out that Naruto Uzumaki is failing maths to the whole bloody class. Real smooth Kakashi Sensei, and since when did teachers organize a totally new class just because ONE STUDENT is failing in a particular area?

"What about it, Kakashi Sensei?" Naruto muttered. Kakashi Sensei sighed;

"Instead of scribbling in your book, please take down the notes which our lovely student teacher is writing up, and at least try to follow,"

"Right,"

"Can I continue?"

"Yes,"

"Alrighty, as I was saying, if you wish to figure out the square root of a number which is NOT a perfect square, you're going to have to know the squares which are closest to it on either side. So if I said that you were to figure out the Square root of six, then you'll have to know the square roots of the perfect squares on either side so that you can-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH,"

"What the hell-"

Sakura - who Naruto had only just noticed hadn't been taking notes - had stood up abruptly and given off this loud and high pitched scream.

"Sakura-Chan, what's wrong…?" Hinata squeaked.

Sakura fell back into her chair, her arms moved fast, knocking a book off her desk as she reached for her back, where something big and white had appeared.

"What's going on…?"

"S-somebody threw something at me," Sakura said, not looking at Hinata, and still staring at the front. Hinata bent over and looked at Sakura's back.

"I-It's a s-spitball…"

Ew. Spitballs. It was such a Kiba sort of thing to do; only Kiba was so far back in the room that the idiot could not have possibly been the one to aim it. Spitballs were so anti-Ino anyway, so it wasn't really like him. The culprit was far more likely to be Sai, who was sitting right behind them. When Naruto looked around to see what Sai was up to however, he found that Sai was still taking down notes.

"Okay, WHAT ON EARTH is going on here," Kakashi Sensei stormed over to their table, "I am being serious now, we are having a student teacher come here from such a prestigious school, and you are carrying on and interrupting. Miss Haruno, why haven't you taken down any notes?"

Oh, so Kakashi had only JUST noticed that Sakura hadn't taken down any notes, and she hadn't been told off yet, but Naruto had been? That was still a bit unfair.

"S-She got spitball'd," Hinata offered.

"Right. So this little ball of saliva and paper is the reason you just mucked up my class, miss Haruno?" Kakashi Sensei asked. Sakura nodded.

"Well, I haven't been pretty happy with you lately anyway. You skipped two classes last week, failed to submit your homework, and haven't taken any notes this class at all…"

"B-But, I-I'm sure that Sakura-Chan already knows how to do square roots!" Hinata squealed helped.

"Stay out of this Miss Hyuuga. Right, Miss Haruno; I believe that a detention is in order,"

"W-WHAT?" Hinata squealed, louder than last time. Sakura gave a little sob.

"She needs a detention, she'll have to catch up on everything she's missed,"

"B-But Kakashi S-Sensei,"

"No buts Miss Hyuuga, be quiet and go back to your work,"

"N-No, you don't know what she's been through,"

It sure was strange seeing Hinata stand up to teachers. She had never done it before, but now that she was, she sounded so confident.

"Miss Hyuuga. I told you to be quiet, looks like that's another one to the detention room,"

This was pretty unlike Kakashi Sensei as well. He wasn't so picky over punishments. Maybe things were tougher at Suna Academy, and Kakashi Sensei didn't want to make Konoha High look like a bunch of sissies. It's a pity it _was _a bunch of sissies.

"Hinata Hyuuga, I would like you to report to detention after school. Now go back to your work, or I'll have a word with your father,"

Hinata gave a little gasp and then, she gave up. Naruto didn't know much about Hinata's father, but apparently he was just like Neji, just bigger, and nastier. Either way, Kakashi Sensei was just being unfair right now. Who CARED about impressing Suna - Konoha High would NEVER be as great as Suna.

Right now, Maths didn't matter to Naruto anymore (Not that it ever mattered).

"Kakashi Sensei, that's just stupid, Hinata and Sakura; they're going through a lot… A certain someone has been treating them like crap and I think I know who shot that spitball!"

Instead of instantly throwing Naruto into the detention pit as predicted, Kakashi Sensei actually enquired.

"Who?"

"Sai,"

"Huh?" said Kakashi Sensei, raising his eyebrows, "Sai, show me your notes,"

Sai held up his page, "I didn't do it Sir, honestly. Look at my work,"

Sai's page was covered with writing. Believe it or not, the kid actually was actually the top of class 11A. It had been a mistake of Naruto's to overlook that.

"Alright, Naruto, hold up yours,"

Naruto sighed and lifted his page. There was one word written on it; "Square".

"That doesn't matter. Sai still threw the spitball…"

"Naruto Uzumaki, I think you're lying. Detention for you too,"

"WHATTTTTTTTT?"

"It's settled. Does anybody ELSE want to say anything?"

Temari Sensei was glancing between the three new detentionees, and she really did look disgusted now. This was just plain ridiculous.

"Alright. Uzumaki, Haruno, Hyuuga. Detention, straight after school today. Show up, or there will be consequences,"

The rest of the class went without anybody uttering a single word. Naruto chose to keep his mouth shut; not for his sake; but for Sakura and Hinata's. He didn't want them to get into any more unneeded punishments. The thing that still bugged him though, was Sakura's lack of reaction to the detention thing. Sure, she had screamed when she had been spitball'd, but it was something any girl, Ino and Hinata included, would do. But when Kakashi Sensei came up however, she had no protest towards the detention. It was like she didn't care about her clean reputation anymore. Like she didn't care about anything anymore.

Even when the class finally ended, Sakura was the first to leave. She dashed out of the classroom, leaving Naruto, Hinata and Gaara. Naruto hadn't exchanged a word with either of the other two since the before the class had started, and as they left the room, Gaara was once again called aside, this time, by his own sister. This left Naruto and Hinata to leave and go to recess alone.

"Kakashi Sensei is a bit of a prick, don't you think Hinata?" Naruto asked casually as they left the building. There was a sunken feeling in his stomach - the feeling of having done something wrong. Just two days ago, he had been the hero of the baseball game, and now, he was in detention. Naruto had only been in detention twice in his whole school life. And he had thought that with the whole popular thing going on, he would never have to go to detention again.

"Well… I guess he's trying to impress the Suna Academy… my father talks about competition between schools a lot…"

"Gaara's sister isn't that bright either. Did you see her with Shikamaru earlier? What the hell… gee, I wonder what she's talking to him about now,"

"I-I bet it's about us,"

"Us?"

"S-She saw us be m-morons in that class. I d-don't think she wants Gaara to hang with us. N-Neji used to say the same thing about Kiba, he said I shouldn't be friends with him… but I didn't listen, maybe I should have,"

"Speak of the devil,"

Kiba, Ino and Shikamaru were all coming in their direction. Accompanied by Sai and Matsuri. Oh, what a group.

"Hey Sai…" Ino was saying, "You were the one who did it right? The one who made Sakura scream like a wuss,"

She didn't even make an effort to conceal her voice as she walked past. It was like she didn't even notice Naruto and Hinata standing right there.

"Yep, and I wasn't caught at it. See, it pays to be smart Ino,"

"You're a pretty good guy, Sai. We should… join forces,"

…Right. Sai and Ino? Join forces?

Naruto made sure they were safely around a corner before exploding.

"So it _was _that creep. Bah, I'm gonna get em-"

"N-No Naruto. I think we should get S-Sakura to help us too. I-I think we s-should get her help, and sort everything out… after detention,"

"After detention?"

"Y-Yes Naruto-kun. All three of us; get Ino Yamanaka and everybody close to her back. I'm sick of this,"

"Okay, I'll help you. That sounds like a good idea,"

It really was sort of strange how Hinata seemed to lack a reaction to the detention as well. Naruto had expected her to crumble as well. Hinata's family were, after all, the people who seemed to know the rulebook of the school back to front and inside out; and Naruto was pretty sure that none of them had ever gotten a detention before, ever. Instead, Hinata just seemed even more determined than before.

"Hey, Hinata… It's so was not like you to talk back to a teacher like that, I'm kinda impressed,"

"I wanted to show Ino Yamanaka that we mean something,"

"Uh… no offense Hinata, but Ino kind of laughed at us,"

"That wasn't all. I wanted to show Sakura-Chan that we're on her side, and we're willing to back her up,"

Oh. So that was it. Well it did make sense… only, maybe Sakura didn't get it. Whatever it was, Naruto was willing to help as well. He turned to Hinata and gave her a small smile.

"Yeah, you know, I see your point. Let's help get Sakura back on track,"

--

Very boring chapter, I know. But it's very long too D:. Was originally longer, but I cut another part off it and made it into a second section, because it totaled a lot. My emotion sucks, and I hate the part where Sakura screams, because it's so fake :O. Damnit; oh well, R/R please :3. And don't be scared to give me critique, because I need it. A lot.


	11. The Joys of Detention

Once again, it was originally one chapter, this one and the last, but I split it in half because it made a total of like 7000 words, when my previous record was three thousand something XD

Once again, it was originally one chapter, this one and the last, but I split it in half because it made a total of like 7000 words, when my previous record was three thousand something XD. Thanks so much for your reviews :3. I love you all 3.

--

Chapter 11

When they arrived at detention later that day, Hinata had actually made an effort to look a little better. Their plan was the talk to Sakura, and then, all three of them, go to principal Tsunade and appeal against Ino. Of course, there was the fact that Sakura may agree, and then, there was the other factor. Somebody else still had a detention to make up; Kiba.

"Argh, I forgot about him," Naruto whispered to Hinata as they entered the classroom. Sakura was already sitting down, a paper in front of her, and a pen in hand, but she wasn't writing anything. Kiba was sitting on the other end of the room, and he _was _actually writing.

"Just ignore him," Hinata muttered back, "You're right, he probably won't do anything to us when he isn't with Ino,"

Naruto had been in one detention with Kiba before. This was before they had gotten to know each other, back in the ninth grade. Kiba had swung off the ceiling light, and had put a wad of chewing gum into the hair of the girl in front of him. This time however, he had already got out his catch up work, and was in the process of writing. He took no notice when Naruto and Hinata entered the room.

The two of them took a seat next to Hinata, and Kiba still didn't look up. Sakura didn't look around either. She was just sitting there, staring at her desk.

"Hi Sakura-Chan!" Hinata said happily, putting down a few books next to Sakura.

Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto noticed Kiba turn and look and them for a second. By the time Naruto turned to look at him however, he had gone back to writing.

"Hello Hinata," Sakura said slowly. Her voice was still much of a monotone, but it was a relief to actually hear her speak. She opened her mouth again, but was interrupted by Kakashi Sensei, who had appeared out of the door, carrying a box full of books.

"Alright, you four. Uzumaki, Hyuuga, Haruno. Write down the notes you forgot to finish this morning, and then complete the WHOLE seventh grade unit on Square Roots. You seemed to understand the whole thing this morning, considering you talked a lot. As for you Inuzuka…"

"Yes Kakashi Sensei?"

"This is the last of your detentions with me, if you work as efficiently as you have been over the last few weeks. You've really brightened up actually…"

It was true. Ever since he had hooked up with Ino, Kiba had actually been working in class and respecting teachers.

"…So you just need to finish the work you've been doing for the last week. Finish it, and I don't have to see you after school until you muck up again,"

"Oh, I'll get it finished, Kakashi Sensei," said Kiba proudly. Naruto gave him a disgusted look. This guy was just an idiot. It didn't make sense that he behaved when he was with the cocky and disrespectful Ino, yet when he was with perfectly clean Hinata, he threw the whole rulebook out of the window.

"Right," said Kakashi Sensei, putting the box of books on the table, "The Seventh Grade mathematics books you are to use for the Square Roots unit are in this box. Once you finish everything, wait here for me to get back. I've got to attend a meeting with the other teachers now… so I'll leave you four to it. If the work isn't completed, then all of you will be in massive amounts of trouble which I won't describe here…"

Naruto raised his hand.

"Uh, Kakashi Sensei,"

"Yes?"

"If you had a meeting after school today, why on earth did you give us detention?"

"Well, you seem to underestimate the rivalry between us schools. You guys were being complete fools in front of a teacher from another, highly respected, school. That sort of behavior deserves a detention, don't you think?"

"But-"

"Now do you want another detention, Naruto?"

"No, I don't even see the point of this one!"

"Then be quiet, and do your work,"

Naruto fell back into his chair as Kakashi Sensei left the room. He saw Kiba smirking at him from the left. Like he could hardly talk. That guy was root of all trouble at Konoha High.

Naruto didn't feel like a sports hero anymore, to say the least.

"Is he gone?" Hinata whispered.

"Yeah, I guess," Naruto grumbled, opening his book. This was so pointless.

"Good," said Hinata, now not even whispering anymore, "Now we can talk to you, Sakura-Chan,"

"Huh? But we have work to do,"

"Save that till later, this is more important! Sakura-Chan…"

Sakura raised her head slowly and gave a little sigh.

"What is it you guys…?"

She looked a little better now that Kakashi Sensei had gone. Naruto noticed Hinata give a side glance to Kiba and making sure that he was working before whispering again.

"Listen Sakura-Chan. We're sick of what Ino is doing too, and while I don't know exactly what she did to hurt you… I-I want to help…"

"Huh?"

"I-I hate Ino, and I know she's behind everything you're going through … I just want to get her,"

Sakura gave another sigh and looked back down at her page. She fumbled in her pencil case for a bit as Hinata watched eagerly. Naruto had copied down another word from the notes before Sakura said anything.

"There's nothing you guys can do. She… She's the cheerleading captain,"

Girls. They all thought that being Cheerleading Captain meant that you were Queen of the Universe.

"So what?" Hinata continued, now a little louder than before, "Tell us what she did… we want to know what happened to you Sakura,"

Sakura gave a little moan and went back to her work. Hinata still didn't give up.

"Sakura-Chan! You used to be the girl I admired the most in all of Konoha High… W-What happened to you?"

"Ino took me off the bloody team, OKAY?" Sakura shrieked, "And she's not going to listen to you, you can't do anything about it!"

The shriek had really come as a surprise. It was filled with tears, as Sakura's eyes welled up again and tears were seen dampening her paper.

"Actually," said Hinata, "There is something we can do about it. We want to go and appeal to Principal Tsunade and get her to demote Ino from Captain. Actually, we want Ino taken off the team for bad sportsmanship; but we can't do it without you telling us what she did,"

Sakura chose to respond to this. Hinata's hand then moved to Sakura's shoulder, as though about to tug Sakura until she responded, and then, both girls were crying. Naruto watched as the new, confident, Hinata, crumbled into something like what Sakura was as she saw her friend in this broken up state.

"Look Sakura," said Naruto suddenly, "Don't feel bad about hooking up with Sasuke,"

He had thought that he would never try and support SasuSaku. But he knew exactly what was making Sakura feel like this, and he knew that he had to say it, for Sakura's sake.

"You know that Ino's doing this because she's jealous. She wanted Sasuke, and you got him. And now you feel bad because she turned out being all cruel to you just because you hooked up with Sasuke. It's not your fault, so stop acting like it is,"

Sakura turned and looked at him. Hinata had an arm around her now, but the two of them were still in tears. Sakura shook her head;

"But it is my fault. None of this would have happened if I didn't start dating Sasuke,"

"No Sakura, it's not,"

"Sakura-Chan…" Hinata squealed, "Ino didn't remove you from the team for that reason anyway… you were still on the team until Ino b-broke her wrist, and that was a few weeks after the Sasuke thing-"

"Yes, I know…" Sakura was visibly shaking now, "B-But she moved me down. I-I was originally on the second row of the cheerleading Pyramid… but a-after I hooked up with Sasuke, she moved me d-down to the bottom…"

"And why on earth would she do that?" Naruto shouted.

"S-She said that my performance had been failing… but it was because… she believes that the higher up y-you are on the cheerleading pyramid, the m-more important you are. She moved me down because I was with Sasuke,"

"T-That's harsh," said Hinata, "B-But she didn't have to remove you from the team after that…"

"The girl who Ino put on top of me," muttered Sakura, "S-She weighed quite a lot… and I couldn't hold the weight. At the baseball tryout… I collapsed, and the pyramid fell apart. That's why Ino broke her wrist. That's why she removed me from the team. See, it's all my fault,"

"But… you said it yourself, Sakura. Ino moved that girl on top of you. If it was anyone's fault, it's hers," Naruto shouted back at her. Sakura flushed.

"B-But it's too late. She's going to use that excuse no matter w-what we try,"

"No, you have the evidence now, and we believe you," said Hinata.

"We can go and get her back, Principal Tsunade is a bit of an old fart, but she won't accept what Ino's been doing,"

"I-I've already lost Ino as my best friend- I don't want her to hate me more," Sakura whined.

"Do you want someone like her as your friend, anyway? She's a cruel, heartless person. You don't need her Sakura,"

"B-But…"

"Sakura," Naruto firmly, "Do you love Sasuke?"

"Y-Yes,"

"Then forget about Ino. She won't let you have him. If you want him, forget about her. She's just going to ruin your relationship, and your life,"

Sakura looked at him. Her beautiful green eyes stared into his. The old, beautiful, Sakura shone through as she looked at Naruto, but at this moment, he knew that all the hope he had for a relationship with her was no longer needed. He didn't want to be in love with her anymore, because she needed Sasuke. She needed him, and she needed her happiness. Naruto didn't need her love, but he wanted her to be happy as well. And in order to make her happy… getting rid of Ino was the least he could do.

"Sakura,"

She didn't respond, but the look in her eyes changed, to show that she wasn't deep in thought anymore, and that she was listening.

"I'm only going to ask this once; because I reckon your answer now will be your final answer. Will you come with us to appeal against Ino?"

…

….

…

….

…

Then, Sakura smiled.

"Yes, Alright,"

Then suddenly, Hinata was crying again. Crying, and smiling. Sakura had started giving off an even wider smile, and Naruto couldn't help smiling back. It was… nice to see everyone like this.

"Let's go straight after detention, eh? Sakura, Hinata?"

"Yeah," said Sakura, not a trace of tears in her voice this time, "Thank you so much, Naruto,"

When Sakura thanked him, Naruto didn't feel himself growing hot and red. He felt as though she was a friend, and he liked it this way.

"Don't thank me," he said, "Thank Hinata,"

"Huh?" squealed Hinata, who was the only one who was crying now, "What?"

"Without you Hinata, I would have never thought of anything to say to Sakura. Without you, I don't think we'd have ever thought of opposing Ino,"

"Huh?" Hinata squealed again, "Don't say that…"

"Thanks to both of you," said Sakura, "You know, you two make a pretty cute cou-,"

_CLANK _

Somewhere across the room, Kiba had come back into existence. He had put his pencil down, and now he was standing up. Then, he was moving towards them, totally disregarding the maths he had been working hard on. The emotion had made them totally forget of his existence.

"Oi," he shouted, coming closer. Hinata and Sakura looked up and saw him and terror filled Hinata's face.

"I heard you two talking about my girlfriend. About all the bad things you think she's done…"

Damn this idiot. Why did he have to ruin the perfect atmosphere they had created?

"The things you were saying, they weren't very nice," said Kiba, "Going on about how she's unfair and cruel…"

Kiba's fist tightened. Hinata gave a squeal. Kiba raised his fist to up around his heart, looking potentially dangerous as he spoke...

"…And I think you've got a point. Look guys… I'm sorry,"

--

Sorry that I SUCK at writing about emotion and things sound so… random. It took me like three whole days to write this, and I'm still not quite happy with it, because the emotion sounds so… fake. I can't write crying for my life D:. And yes, Kiba is back. OR IS HE? Sorry these updates took a long time. Seriously, it takes a lot to please me, and I'm still not that happy with them, but I need your critique to know what else I can do!

-Ari-Chan :3.


End file.
